just keep swimming...

I still haven't found my blogging mojo, or maybe getting close to 30 is taking it's toll on me and I can't stay up late like used to just a couple of months ago. At least for now Ginny's yarn alongs are providing some motivation for me to blog, even if it's just once a week.

one hat down, one more to go (will be changing the pattern some)

I'm not much of a fiction reader. In fact, the only fiction books I had read in the past 5 years or so were the last 2 books of Harry Potter. And I only did it because I love spoilers and don't like waiting for the rest of the movies to come out. Other than Harry Potter, it's non-fiction all the way for me. We usually have at least 3 dozen of books checked out from the library, most of them are for kids. But lately I've been on a library book-reading binge, so this little stack in the photo is not all I'm leafing through these days, it's just a representation of categories that I've been exploring.

(sorry, no links or author names, searching for those would add another 20 minutes to this post, which I don't really have. I just want to make sure this post gets published, and not abandoned, before my kids hijack my hanging-by-the-thread attention again)

A Curious Collection of Cats - I love well illustrated books. in fact, it's one of the reasons why I enjoying looking through kids books so much. Recently I discovered a whole section of fun poetry books in the back of non-fiction room, and couldn't resist taking this one with me. The illustrations are outstanding, and the colors, well, they are truly a feast to my eyes.

just realized that these two pages match the colors in my quilt in the photo above pretty darn well

Glouriously Gluten-Free Cookbook - we're still figuring this gluten-free life out, which involves me checking out lots of gluten free cookbooks and googling lots of recipes online. Finding a perfect GF bread recipe is especially tricky.

150 Knitted Trims - thinking of up-cycling my wardrobe, which has been boring me to tears lately. And clothes shopping these days with 4 kids in tow is pretty much a recipe for disaster.

2-at-a-time Socks - ummm... wish me luck. Magic loop is scary. And I'm kind of embarrassed to admit that after knitting for over 2 years, I still haven't made a single pair of socks. I can't say I'm short on sick yarn either. It's just sitting in the basket and begging to be used.

Free and Easy Stitch Style - love this book. I've always wanted to try free-hand stitching/quilting, and this book is just perfect for getting me started. Especially now, when I have a sweet new addition to my sewing machine family (which I didn't realize I had, until Mark counted my sewing machines for me).

back pain or not...

Right now I really feel like I'm in need of some therapeutic sewing (not for my back, obviously, that's a whole other story). So yes, I got out THAT quilt that was never finished in spite of my whole two attempts to work on it over the last year. I've made more progress than ever before. The quilt top is almost done, batting drying outside. Could it be real? A quilt done by the end of the week?

And I truly don't care if those blocks don't match. Here are my reasons:

* yes, I'm sewing with back pain
* it's my first quilt, which will most likely end up being a picnic blanket, or something in that nature.
* who's going to look closely? I mean, how often do we get visitors or people to have a picnic with?
* I'm not patient enough for re-doing it, I just want it DONE.
* I care about colors and prints more and I care about intricate pattern or perfect stitching.
* as long as it's DONE and usable, I'll be happy as a clam.

weekend summary

First I finally made a serged cloth diaper. Turned out fantastic (yes, I spent enough time on it to deserve a bit of a shameless praise) and so soft, perfect for cuddling if you don't have a little bunny or kitty. But unfortunately too big for little A. Lesson learned: FattyCakes pattern runs big (at least for size L which is supposed to fit 22-30lbs range).

Also managed to have our first successful yard sale trip on Saturday(or second yard sale trip this season, not often enough, if you ask me. that's one of my biggest reasons for wanting to learn driving this summer. just kidding. partially.) We managed to score this lovey Danish retro chair for a whole $1. It's in amazing condition, but I still want to try re-upholstering it. Also Anya got some sweet girly clothes for this fall (and cooler summer days, if we keep having those *crossing my fingers*).

Mark got several awesome gifts from us on Sunday - a nice little shoulder bag for carrying his books and papers that he takes to church or to work all the time, breakfast consisting of a whole bowl of chocolate chip cookies baked the night before when he was sleeping, cards from Maya and Elijah (Anya wasn't in the mood), and uninterrupted sleep for most of the night up until 11:15 a.m.

The beginning of the day was promising, although kids managed to turn it into a 'normal' day, complete with fighting, whining, and some intense yelling from Maya. (Ahhhh, sweet Maya with a 'Y', always a mystery... Don't know what bit that girl, she's been wearing her grumpy face and yelling at everyone all week. Today she accused Elijah of 'munching' on his cereal too much, and got quite upset that he dared to look at her during breakfast. And she called him 'sensitive' while shouting all her complains into my face. Go figure.)

We ended our day with a warm bowl of soup, which kids didn't even touch (completely expected that and had spaghetti ready for them). I wasn't planning to cook that night, but things didn't go as we planned, so I tried to figure out what was going to be for dinner. I don't deal with unexpected changes in plans very well. My cooking mojo was definitely missing that night. The soup turned out quite good, but not the kind of flavor that usually makes me want to sit down and share the recipe through my blog. So no recipe yet, although I absolutely plan on tweaking this soup to make it more exciting for my palate. I did enjoy barley and kale together, they make a good couple.

Did I mention how much I love that thing?

My serger, of course! Every day I look for reasons to use it, and it just doesn't get old. I've made A's dress, skirts, baby wipes, and many other things with it. The other day I chopped my old maternity cropped pants and turned them into a pair of pants for Elijah. Didn't take much time at all, I only switched to sewing machine when I was doing elastic waist. A pair of pants, complete with 3 cargo pockets that cost me next to nothing in time and money. Can't beat that. You just can't...

and this sweet face(and her fingers) couldn't stay away from the camera. she deserves an 'A' for the effort to get into the shot.

Busy days

It's been a busy month. We've been looking for a car since April, and the search was consuming pretty much all of our free time. Now it's DONE. The car is purchased, we are really really happy to have a car that better suits our needs and also to be done with looking at ads, reviews and driving to dealerships.

Now if only we could get just one step ahead of our laundry, you know, the kind that's been washed and maybe even folded, but never makes it back into the dresser and gets unfolded by busy little hands? Yeah, the story of our life right now...

Aside from that, it's good to have my 'free' time back (the time when I'm supposed to be sleeping but instead chose to work on my projects and then regret it in the morning). I've been branching out (as always) and trying my hand at new things, mostly working on bringing back my drawing skills and adding watercolor painting to it. I've also finally carved a few stamps, something I've been wanting to do for a long time. I don't scrapbook (intentionally trying to avoid it, or I'll get addicted quickly), but I always loved the added touch of a stamped picture to the gift wrap (brown paper bag in our case) or a letter/envelope. Plus I've been wanting to use stamps on fabric as well.
So, viola, my first stamp was carved.

I also was happy to return back to my serger and make a quick, easy and, ultimately, adorable dress for Anya. Just found a small onesie, shortened it, added skirt, finished the bottom with rolled edge hem (using serger for it as well) and completed the look with tie-dyed bath for the dress.

I decided to get the most use out of the dye bath, so in went 3 more small items, one of them was a t-shirt for Elijah:

These are just some of the things I've made recently, and I'm hoping for many many more creative opportunities soon. Tonight will be soon enough :)

Busy month

Eeeekk, I feel defeated by this birthday month. I did my best trying to keep up with birth-day posts, and believe it or not, they are all typed up and just need some editing, saved in drafts and waiting to be posted...

Until it happens, I won't use that as an excuse not to post anything else. The time line is already messed up anyway, right?

Last week Maya celebrated her birthday and I followed my impulse and made her a last-minute t-shirt that she requested in her last minute wish list. Here it is (the wishlist):

Puzzled? I'll decode:

Kindergarten Book
Game
P (she never told me, just said "let's skip that for now")
Art Book
Short Sleeve Shirt
New Crayon Set
Velvet Art Work
Wallet
Card (she revealed to grandma that she wants a DEBIT card)
Helmet
Decorations for Christmas

I know she requested a short sleeved shirt, but it was a week ago, when we still had 50s outside with rain and snow. Since I was using old t-shirts to make her a new one, the sleeves were 'pre-made' and I decided to keep them 'as is' until it got warmer. The applique was the time killer, took longer than the shirt itself. I'm still glad I did it, because I had upcoming Earth Day in mind.

Taming the Serger (AKA, my serger saga)

I'd wanted a serger for a long time and last fall, about 6 months ago I saved some money and after spending hours on reading online reviews, Brother 1034D was on the way from Costco. It arrived threaded with tiny sample spools of thread, I had fun serging scraps of fabric while trying to get a hang of the machine and then... one of the threads ran out. That was it. I agonized over the prospect of re-threading the beast on my own, after all, the book said that all the threading had to be done in strict order, otherwise machine would explode into my face...

Now I realize that I was a bit over reacting and feel quite silly that I kept hiding from my serger all these months without even attempting to thread it. Well, 2 nights ago I sat down, skipped the instructional video and brochure and went straight to the diagram on the inside of my serger. That was the most clear and easy set of directions on how to thread my machine. Three minutes later I was chaining off.

One good lesson that I learned, at least with the model of serger that I have, is that all the precise instructions and reviews that mentioned threading were quite paralyzing for me. Thanks to them I always felt like I had to SUFFER through the first few attempts of threading and then it would get easier. I didn't even think that threading a serger could be EASY even if the set of paths and holes is quite different from the sewing machine. All these months I kept thinking that I didn't have time to sit down and watch instructional videos in order to start operating the beast. In reality, all I used in the last 2 days to do my work on the serger was the threading diagram and the skimpy looking manufacturers brochure. Oh, and the best part? You DON'T have to thread those 4 paths in their strict order (upper looper, lower looper, right needle, left needle). Once you see how those threads fall into their paths, you can easily re-thread just one specific path. Sweet!

We are friends now, my serger and I. I finished leggings for Anya last night (Ottobre, Spring 09), made with old t-shirts. I'm quickly getting hooked on this machine. And it may not seem to be worth mentioning, but I had a long time dream of chopping a few of onesies and turning them into shirts. Now it's done and I'm amazed by the simple genius of this 'project' and how well it suits our needs.

We often make mistake of leaving folded laundry on the couch overnight. Then Anya gets a hold of it in the morning and I can't deprive her of joy of playing with our nicely folded clothes.

Where is my baby?

Something has changed last week. I looked at Anya one day and saw a toddler in her. The expressions, the meaning she puts into them, they are not baby grimaces any more. How could it happen so fast? She is not even 1 yet, technically she isn't for a little less than 24 hours. Yet, both Mark and I notice how every day she's losing more and more of her baby-ness, turning into a little toddler...

And now this. Walking... Unlike her older siblings, who waited until 15.5 and 14.5 months until suddenly and unexpectedly walking all over the place one day, Anya is taking a different approach, proving that she's her own little person, no matter how much we try to figure out who she's acting and looking most like. She's taking tiny little steps, sometimes it's just 2 or 3, other times it's 10. But she's doing it, giggling and squealing of joy, as if to show us that her toddlerhood is inevitable yet fun. We get it, we really do, even if we will always secretly miss baby Anya.

Tomorrow is her birthday, and there will be a special post dedicated to that, complete with birth story and video. I still don't want to wait a whole another day before posting a photo of cuddly little gift I made for Anya last night, while my headache wasn't letting me sleep at 3 a.m.

I know this is far from perfect, but what matters is that it's DONE 1 day before her birthday. What a miracle, since I'm always late with handmade presents :)

happy quiet Sunday

For some reason Sundays are rarely peaceful here, probably because we so want them to be. This Sunday was different, relaxing, lazy, even productive. Quick delicious lunch, afternoon sewing, then bright cheerful colors in the living room. Laundry folded, evening walk, kids in bed *on time*. Can it get any better? Only if it happens more often.

Eggplant curry (adapted and, yes, improved from this month's Real Simple)

1 medium onion chopped
olive or coconut oil
1 eggplant, cubed
1 T curry powder
1 T ground coriander
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 can chickpeas
4 medium tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
salt/pepper to taste
1/2 c water

Sautee onion for a few minutes, add eggplant and spices, more oil if needed. Cook for 7-10 minutes, stirring often. Add chopped tomatoes, drained chickpeas, tomato sauce and water if needed. Cook for 3-5 more minutes. Serve over rice, buckwheat, or quinoa.

Fun times

Has it been nearly two weeks already? Or should I say, it's only been less than 2 weeks and I am making another post!

But seriously, I have to blame it all on Anya's teething. Or who knows what it is that keeps her up at night more than ever. Thank goodness for her cuteness during the day and all sunshine with warm weather to sweeten the exhaustion from staying up at night trying to get little Anya to sleep. I secretly have to giggle when she wakes up next to me and starts crawling on our bed in the dark, sticking her fingers in whatever openings she can find on our faces. But the cuteness of it wears out in about 2 minutes when the overwhelming feeling of having to get her go back to sleep settles in. Well, at least in these last couple of weeks it looks like teething is to blame, as compared to no obvious excuses during all those countless nights when she kept us awake. Someday she will figure this sleep thing out and then we'll naively reward ourselves with another newborn thinking that it surely will sleep better than Anya did...

I'm often in awe at how creative our children can get when they try to find things they are not supposed to play with. Maya's old trick of using my make-up (with a lot of effort put into her eyebrows) is nothing compared to what Elijah can do. Every night when I go to bed, I quickly scan the room and the kitchen for things that need to be put out of sight and reach. That involves hiding knives, scissors, any hair products, locking the bathroom and the door to the closet in my craft room (where I now store my Dharma dyes on the highest shelf, but you can't be too cautious after he showed me what he's capable of doing with my dyes last summer).

Well, one of his last week's victims was a nice big jar of extra virgin and extra expensive coconut oil. To my defense, I did think for a second that the jar needed to be hidden when I was doing my usual scan, but since it was probably 3 a.m. when I was going to bed, that thought quickly escaped my mind. I really wasn't a bit surprised when I found Elijah thoroughly enjoying a good amount of coconut oil the next morning.

The cleanup was slightly easier than after 20 emptied jars of Dharma dyes, thank goodness for that. I think the hardest part was seeing all that good oil go to waste (well, not from Elijah's perspective obviously). The upside, his hair smelled and felt heavenly once it was washed.

What a life. Can't call it anything but exhaustingly exciting.

And of course there are always sanity savers that eat up my sleep time when there's such a thing. Meet Maya's very orange and happy new tunic, crafted by mama at 3 a.m.

Now I want one too. Some day...

Emerging from underground like a spring flower

Yes, that's me. Don't know how to explain the feeling but I know some people know what I'm talking about... I don't know about you but I like to celebrate the arrival of spring on March 1st, after all, that's how it's always been done where I grew up. Slowly, but steadily I feel like the winter ice cap is starting to melt from over my head, the sun is shining brighter, the birds are getting more cheerful and the life begins to emerge. I feel I can breathe again...

With spring comes the irresistible urge to clean, get rid of things that we can live without, make some room for the sake of having more room. Time to organize, evaluate, look at things from a different perspective.

I finally got around to turning Maya's former bedroom into my craft/guest room. It's tiny and cozy, a perfect little corner for my art/sewing/knitting supplies that used to hide in the corners of our living room.

And it's only natural that with organization comes inspiration. So I'm back in the sewing groove, the downside is that my head is bursting with ideas. Now I just need to start sewing for US instead of making gifts for others all the time.

And there's more where this came from... Back to sewing, ta ta!