Week's Craftiness

Sometimes I wonder if my children will be shafted- they have a mother who is very willing to engage in all sorts of domestic activities (needlepoint, sewing, teddy-bear making, tole painting, gardening, canning, candy making, cake making, casserole making, singing, piano playing, organ playing, pottery, homemade soap and yogurt and granola...etc.) but I never really seem to achieve any distinction in most of these endeavors besides having tried more of them than anyone I know.

Case in point: Our new "Me" doll for Ernie!

I won't even show you the pattern I drew- just trust me that it looks very little like the finished doll. But, it's blond with blue eyes and she picked out the skirt color. She LOVES it, and that's what matters, right?

A skirt I made yesterday, traced from one of her favorites. Unfortunately, I mis-calcuated the seam allowance and this will be in tomorrow's mail to a much-loved and much-missed niece in East Coast Land. But I think this is just adorable, and it was only two pieces. Very easy to put together, and even better if you measure right. I think BBJ will look adorable.


Do I still get brownie points for trying? :o)

Just Because

Isn't this a sweet picture? We had my family (immediate plus Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin) over for a little BBQ on Monday evening. I love having a home we can welcome people to, and Ernie loves having friends over!

As of Monday afternoon my father has become "Bobby" (can't say Grandpa, tried to get her to say Bumpa like we used to call Grandpa T, and ended up with a very Brit-sounding "BOBBY.") So, since Monday evening Ernie keeps running to the window calling "A Mom! A Bobby! A Boy!" (That would be my mother, father, and youngest brother.)

She also spends a good portion of the day saying "A doo day...a weee.....a NANA!" (Birthday...and wait...and Nana!) Yes, sweet pea- Nana is coming in July, after your birthday. So much waiting and watching for a little girl!

Our Little Songbird

After she (inadvertently) hurt me, I left her alone where she was playing. Well, she made her way to the piano and started singing a song about her misdeeds. Enjoy!

Garden Update from the Pacific Northwest

With the weekend "heat wave" and subsequent days of heavy rain, my little seeds are happy!

Sprouting in the garden: carrots, chard, a few beans

Sprouting in the front flower bed: nasturtium, a few sunflowers, and wildflowers in the half-barrel

Sprouting in the pots: mint, cilantro, and radishes

Sprouting indoors: yellow tomato, heirloom tomato, basil, walla walla onions, bell peppers, lettuce mix, black-eyed susan vine.

Here are tomatoes

Basil
Walla Walla Onions


The peppers surprised me- the instructions said to put them in peat pots in a saucer of warm water, and replace the warm water each day. I threw them in the tray with everything else- Survival of the fittest!

The black-eyed susan vines also surprised me- only 5 out of my 12 seeds sprouted. Since almost everything else came up, maybe they were bad seeds? I didn't think they'd be so finicky. Unfortunately I shared these seeds with my friend, and now she has a tray of duds too.

I'm going to let things set one good set of "true" leaves, and then pinch them out to make sturdy, bushy plants (especially important for the tomatoes, I've been told.)

Other things growing in the yard: We have an annual tradition with our Grandmother- every Spring she asks if we need anything from the yard, and our eyes light up as we head for the shovel and bucket. She's a generous gardener with a prolific yard. This year I brought home hosta, mint, lemon balm, and orange crocosmia starts. I also scored a few potted plants in need of soil- a pink hydrangea, jasmine vine, and some sort of bulb (all that's left is the foliage.) The fig tree we planted a few weeks ago looks like it will make it- I found some leaf buds a week ago, and it looks like the weekend heat forced them out. We'll have leaves soon!

In addition to all this, we picked up a 4-year-old fig tree over the weekend from Mama Papaya. Her house, chickens, and little Maia Papaya are all adorable! (We took a quick trip over the weekend, sans Ernie, to visit family and see a few sights.) The fig tree still needs a designated spot in the yard. I'm torn over whether I should plant it in front with our little fig-lette stick, or maybe across the yard, near the neighbor's apple tree? Do I want to turn our front yard into an orchard? When I'm 70 years old and still live here, just how much fruit do I want to be harvesting every year??? Is there enough sun in the backyard? (No) Hmm..any suggestions?

How is your yard doing this year? Any big plans?

House Photo Shoot

As my sister gleefully pointed out the other day, she WON. She moved a week after us, across the country, and she finished unpacking the last box before we did. Of course, it helps that her husband had the entire week off work, and did NOTHING but unpack. And my sweet husband is up to his eyeballs in not-for-profit tax returns and studying for the next section of the CPA exam, while I have the energy level (and relative speed) of a common garden slug. NEVERTHELESS, I have pictures. (Do I win? :)

Here is our dining room. (Note: This will be painted yellow.)
Here is the living room- it faces the street. This is where Jay built a really great half wall, to replace the "banister wall" that was there- those banister posts were so far apart, a small adult could fit through! This room will be re-painted soon, since we don't have much hope of matching the paint. You can't quite see the wall- the bottom right corner you can see the piano, which backs up to the wall.
Here is the family room- it is completely empty of furniture, and Ernie loves it that way! This is what I face when I'm at the kitchen sink. This room will be painted cornflower blue (at some point in the next five years ;o) Through the window you can see the back yard- my sweet husband and brother built up the garden box on the right, in the back is the green belt, and on the left is a play set, and our neighbor's fence. I think that fence is one of Ernie's favorite parts of the yard, because she gets to see Jasper (the little dog) through there! She loves Jasper, and feeds him sticks when I'm not looking. Poor Jasper.


Here is Ernie's room- this is one of the rooms I LOVE the color. I'm hoping to get a little bit more for decoration on the walls...can you see a pattern in this all? Never ending projects?

Oh dear, this is the nursery. Bad color, bad paint job, lots of boxes parked in here (mostly things that won't be unpacked, like outgrown Ernie clothes). Lots to do before September!

This is the master bedroom, which I LOVE. You can see a little deck in the back- there are two rocking chairs out there. It is so nice and quiet and private, but overlooks the play set so I can keep an eye on Ernie. Again, we hope to paint this room- J has picked out a dusty blue color, with a khaki ceiling. To go with that, we want to paint the adjoining bathroom dusty lavender, with cream wood. A big thanks to J's dad, who installed a light in the ceiling- it makes a HUGE difference! I guess master bedrooms relied on lamps in the 1970's?

Finally, here is the basement playroom. Ernie LOVES this room (can you tell?) So do all her friends! Behind where the camera is standing is a small bathroom, laundry room, and 4th bedroom currently used as sewing room/den. (I love having my own sewing desk, looking out a window! I can see Ernie while she plays, and she can come and go through the sliding glass door in there.) However, the den is where all the last boxes are and it's not fit to be seen :)

Mystery Bush

Does anybody know what this is? It's not a dense bush, and has these sprays of flowers on new and one-year-old wood. They don't smell, and little black aphids seem to LOVE to congregate in the branch angles. Did someone plant it in my yard on purpose, or did it come on the same train as the blackberries?

Week In Review

She is a fashion maven- can you tell she picks out her own outfits?
Enjoying tonight's yummy strawberry milkshake after FHE. REALLY enjoying it!

We have a huge, white, rhododendron bush blooming right off the front porch- aren't the blooms gorgeous? I just had to bring some inside, along with some sprays from a (yet to be identified) bush. Maybe I'll post some pictures, and you guys can help me figure it out? J caught this picture while playing around with our "macro" feature on the camera. Good shootin', Tex!

Oh, and no pictures of this one, but I think Ernie is potty trained! She has three accidents last week, and we don't need to remind her much any more- she runs right to her bathroom when she needs to! What a little girl. (Yes, ordinarily we would say "big girl," but she is very adamant: Mommy and Daddy are BIG, Ernie is very small. So she's a little girl. I'll get it on tape if I can- her sense of perspective and size is a little skewed ;o)