mama urchin

Last evening we were driving home from my parents’ house and had to turn around three separate times because the roads were flooded and blocked by all manner of emergency vehicles. Two other times we only got through a flooded road because we drive a tank that is rated to ford streams up to a depth of 20″ without a snorkel — not my car in that photo. So yeah, it was kind of an intense end to a lovely Mother’s Day.

Today the rain continued and the temperatures reached a high of 45 degrees. Tristan wore his wool sweater he got for Christmas and Katie asked for a fire late this afternoon. May 12, that is the date, right?

When Amanda Jean said she wanted a red and white quilt — only red and white — I thought, no problem. I have a ton of red fabric in my stash. Well, it turns out I didn’t have any of the right red and all the right reds had a little something else in them too — green, pink, tan. So I finally got myself to a fabric store last week and picked up a few red and white prints. I decided to make a star since Amanda Jean helped me begin to conquer my fear of triangles. I had to rip out the last seam about four times before I was satisfied with it. It is still not perfect but the points in the middle match so I’ll live with it.

Courtney sent three solids and asked us to create a square that was bordered in the muslin color. Courtney said: feel free to tea dye, distress fabrics, or to pair them with things that appear just a little “off.” And if it’s a fabric that looks like it was your grandpa’s work shirt, or your grandma’s house dress even better. So I wanted my square to look like it was pieced together with little leftover or re-used scraps. I think I did it. Well, I hope I did.

Remember how I made a few apron sets to have on hand for birthday gifts? Well, they’ve been a huge hit and the birthday parties haven’t stopped. So, I’ll be working on something new to have in the stash soon. This, however, is about the boys. Katie hasn’t been invited to too many boy parties this year but we have had a bit of a run on babies that have big brothers. And any mom of two (or more) knows that gifts for a new baby are always better received when they come with a gift for the big sister/brother too.

The dinosaur backpacks are made from the same clearance fabric as Katie’s dino dress. They were super easy to make and I finally got to use some grommets — something I’ve been wanting to do for a while. The contents include all kinds of Dinosaur stuff I got in the dollar bins at Target — grow tablets, stickers, dinosaur skeleton kits, tattoos, etc. I also included a couple of Schleich dinosaur figures. Really, you could find almost all of this stuff at the dollar store. And as a mom I know that I like when Katie gets gifts like this. The stickers and tattoos get used and used up, and then they’re gone. The figures and the skeleton can be played with creatively and won’t be quickly outgrown. And all kids love a bag to put their junk in — I had a lot of trouble getting this one off the model. It’s so much better than another Polly Pocket or Spiderman figure. I also change the contents slightly depending on the recipient. A dinosaur book would be good for an older boy while a dinosaur coloring book and crayons are just right for a younger child.

The pillows from my bloggy birthday give-away are headed out today. Finally. Man, I am slow with the sending. These got held up with zipper issues. Why can you never find a zipper that is the right color and the right length? So there is one pillow where the zipper color is the best I could do and another where the zipper is way too long. Still, I think they’re pretty cute. Click through to flickr to see who gets which one and individual photos too. And here is a photo of my prop master — always ready to help me with the photography.

Another delayed baby gift. This is for a sweet little boy who arrived at the end of last year. The free pattern is called Super-Natural Stripes and it is knit in super soft Blue Sky Alpacas‘ Organic Cotton. I used the colorway pebble instead of the sage and I’m happy with the variegated effect. My only modifications were I didn’t knit the single row of bone at the cuff, hem, or button band/collar. It wasn’t really necessary with the pebble yarn.

Baby Stripes
Pattern: Super-Natural Stripes
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas‘ Organic Cotton in colorways 80 (bone), 82 (nut), and 84 (pebble)
Yardage: less than one 150 yard skein of the bone and nut, less than two 150 yard skeins of the pebble
Needles: US size 7 and US size 5
Gauge: 16 st = 4 in
Size : 6-12 months
Modifications: Omitted the bone stripe at the cuff, hem, and button band/collar.

I feel a little out of the swing of things in this space. No real reason, I guess, just hazy, you know what I mean? I have a bunch of stuff to finish up this week though, we only have three weeks until preschool is out for the Summer. Seriously, Summer. Anyway, the garden was looking very purple-y this weekend. My grandmother loves purple. LOVES it. She always has, as long as I can remember. So all the purple got me thinking of her and this silk yarn — Posh Yarn’s Lisette — I scored when Vanessa recently destashed. I’m planning to make something lacy for my grandmother for Christmas with it. The yarn is aran weight, any suggestions? I’ve decided to dangle the yarn as a carrot in front of my nose for me to finish up all those things I need to do. Hopefully I can cast on by the end of the week. And speaking of carrots…

This is a quilt for some friends that had a baby at the end of last year. I wanted something soft so I made a huge log cabin from blue and green flannels. I backed it with minkee so it will be soft against the little guy whether it’s used as a play mat or a crib quilt. Wow, though, I need to get with the program on getting gifts made in a more timely manner.

And an update on the other babies. As of this morning I was fairly convinced that Mama Bunny had not returned since Sunday. So, while the urchins were at preschool we carefully pulled back the leaves and fluff and found that the babies were still there, doing well, and a little bothered that we were disturbing them. After some online research and some info from some of you I felt much better that they were doing fine — i.e. they hadn’t been abandoned/orphaned — and that a rabbit nest in the middle of the lawn is not that unusual. To be safe I moved a plastic Adirondack chair near the nest since someone walking to the front door from the street would probably step right on them. Then tonight as we were heading out after dinner we saw the Mama tending her kittens — did you know baby rabbits are called kittens? Unfortunately, she saw us too so she quickly hopped away but she was watching to see what we did so we just got in the car and drove off. Turns out, she’s a good mama after all.

Before we scooted off to mission control — more rocket pics in Papa’s flickr stream — someone in our house turned five. She has been telling us for months about the mermaid swimming party she was going to have. My philosophy on children’s birthday parties is that themes are fun for them, even if I personally find them a little too much. And if you are going to do a theme, I say go for it whole heartedly. So, a mermaid swimming party was had.

The inside says:

We had the party at our local recreation center so we couldn’t really decorate too much. I just got all kinds of shells and some ocean-colored beads to put on the tables.

For food we kept it simple. Papa made an awesome cake — with art direction by Mama — and we had ice cream cups and swedish fish. Let me tell you, I had forgotten how good swedish fish taste. The castle cake was made with a nordic ware pan. We made a sheet cake to be the ocean and decorated it with homemade candies, store bought sugar fishes, and two theme-appropriate playmobils.

The mermaid princess seemed pleased, if not a little overwhelmed. She’s already started planning next year’s party, a fairy teaparty — do you think she’s been reading Daria’s blog?

I finally got to the bookstore this week and got a hold of a copy of Larissa’s new book Knitalong. Longtime readers of my blog may remember that I knit some hats and my first socks ever as part of two knitalongs Larissa hosted to prepare for the book. Then she asked that I send the holly hat to be included in photos for the book. So I was hoping that there was at least a photo of it in there — for no other reason than to brag to my mom and mother-in-law. Well, now you have to hear me brag too because it looks like I have two photos in the book as well as two mentions. Hee hee, I’m almost famous. Okay, not really. But I have to say it’s a great book with that meathead pattern I get asked about so much as well as a bunch of other awesome stuff. So get your hands on a copy.

With delays for illnesses and vacations and all kinds of things we are finally able to call this round of miniswap complete. Katrina and Tristan were paired with Caroline who loves puppies, kittens, playing with dolls, etc. We decided for Katie and Tristan to each direct a project where they could help participate. Tristan’s project was a coloring set. I made the bag and sketchbook and the urchins helped with the crayons.

After looking through The Cute Book Katrina decided we should make a kitty for Caroline. We used the basic shapes included in the book but made some adjustments and made a mama cat too. Then we decided to make some toys and other things a la Lyn and include them in an old wooden box that originally held olive oil and balsamic vinegar. So Mama Kitty and her baby have a fish and a mouse as well as a pillow and some milk bottles in case they get tired or thirsty. Mama’s apron comes off for when she’s not chasing Baby Kitty’s messes.

We also included a rice pillow that matches Katie’s — fabric choices made entirely by her — and some other purchased things that we thought Caroline might enjoy. Caroline and her mama, Amber, spoiled us and you can see what they sent here, here, and here . Thank you Caroline and Amber, and thanks Molly for another great round of miniswap.