Seasons

Things I Haven’t Photographed Lately

 

The 60 tiny onion plants I put in the p-patch over the weekend and the countless buckets of winter weeds I removed. The daffodils in the backyard. The lobelia around them is starting to bloom as well, so parts of the garden have the classic yellow/blue combination going on. A box of 3/4 in washers, a result of yak-shaving. A flower spike on our amarylis – with any luck, this time it won’t commit suicide before it blooms! The first of the star magnolia blooming by the house. Absolutely everything piled up on tables in preparation for our first professional …

Caitlyn, Seasons

Snowshoeing

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For the first winter in three years, it hasn’t snowed in Seattle. Caitlyn takes this as a personal offense. We’ve been meaning to try snowshoeing for years. Somehow planning the outing has never bubbled to the top of the list. So, thanks are in order to Eldan for providing a sufficient nudge and to Melinda for joining us! (Maybe next time, we’ll get both of you!) It was quite a bit easier than I thought it would be. Sure, we wore ourselves out, but no one got tangled up in her snowshoes unless she meant to. This being March in …

sewing

Waiting for Sunshine

Ian’s wardrobe has two modes. If it’s gray and rainy outside (roughly October til late April), he wears long sleeves and all black. If it’s warm and sunny, the sleeves get short and the colors get bright. I mean, really bright. He’s got a shirt that’s a bright orange with little black kokopellis on it. About a year and a half ago, while we were in a fabric store for some other reason, Ian found a fabric he liked. Sure, I’ll make a shirt. We have a go-to pattern for him (McCalls’ 4079), I’ve already noted all the adjustment to …

Caitlyn

Amuse your Child and Irritate your Cat in 4 Easy Steps

 

1. Bring your child and your cat together in the same location. This is easy to do if there’s food available, or even just the vague promise that there might be food for at least one of them. 2. Let the child pick up a shiny object. Today, Caitlyn chose a can opener. Let the child do random things with said shiny object. For example, open and close the can opener in a sideways position. Experiment with putting can opener handles on either side of a can or jar. 3. Let the cat choose a position on the other side …

quilts

Tutorial: Square in Square Block

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Welcome to March! For us northerly types, the days are visibly longer already, and the buds are swelling on the trees. One of these days, the sun will stop teasing us, and we’ll all squint and complain about how bright it is. March is my month to lead Sew.Quilt.Give. It’s probably unnecessary for the bee participants, but I’m taking the opportunity to write a tutorial for my chosen block, the Square in Square block. It’s a first for me (the tutorial writing, not the block), so if you have any constructive feedback, please share! This block is a variation on …

sewing

Gnomes

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I’m not normally a garden gnome person. I don’t collect ceramic statuary for the garden. But I randomly found a copy of Gnomes in the library when I was a kid and something about the tiny people in their pointy red hats has just stuck with me. So, when In The Beginning announced a fabric collection called Better Gnomes and Gardens… well, ok, I squealed and showed pictures of the fabric designs to a long list of very patient friends. And then I bought a bit more than was seemly. Now I have gnomes and not a lot of plans …