The Little Red Hen

It's a Perfectly Cromulent Word

I love words that kids make up to fit a particular thing or situation.  Yesterday, as P was playing with her "easy blocks" she was also giving a running dialog.  I heard her say that her blocks were "betwards" my spinning wheel.  Betwards- that would be her new word for between her and something else.

When my nephew was little he coined the word "smurgled" to describe the clean laundry that has not yet been folded. 

What fun words have you learned from the little people in your life?

The "Doll" Quilt

P and I did some sewing yesterday and got her big girl quilt top finished.   

She calls it her "doll" quilt and is now talking about having the quilt in her room.  I think it will help her make the transition to the big bed. 

Maybe I can have it quilted and finished by her third birthday.

Patience

Saturday, we found this dove who had made a nest in our supply of twine in the barn.  She sat patiently on her nest all day as we went about our business getting tools, and starting the tractor and lawn mower.  She will be a mother soon.

We will keep an eye out for the babies. The incubation period for dove eggs is 17-18 days.

Back in the winter, we ordered baby chicks to be delivered on June first.  The incubation period for chickens is 21 days.  That means that our little chicks started their incubation at the hatchery on Saturday, as we discovered this dove. 

We will also be waiting and watching for these grapes to flower and grow. This will take a lot longer than incubating chicks.

That is the way it is. 

We have to wait for some of the best things in life, it helps to have a lot of things that we are anticipating along the way.

Mom

My mom at the age P is now.

There are so many things I would like to ask my mother now that I have a daughter.

I also wonder what kind of grandmother she would be now.  How would she have been with teenage grandchildren?

What kind of old woman would she be?  Would she have been like her mother?

Believe

We have been enjoying the warmer weather lately. I have been sitting out on our back porch to knit and read during P's naps.  I even ended up taking my own nap out there one day.

This afternoon, P and I were out enjoying the scents and colors of the flowers.  We ended up, as usually happens, weeding on one of the flower beds.  I was discouraged by the amount of grass and weeds in the garden.  I also had to keep reminding P to keep her feet on the grass and not in the garden.  She would respond with, "It's a gard'n, honey."  I guess she was trying to correct my pronunciation!  After several reminders to keep her feet out of the garden, gard'n, I explained that different people say it different ways.  That seemed to satisfy her and she busied herself pulling the yellow (dandelions) out of the white (all the flowers are white in the garden we were working on) garden.  A little while later she stood up and said, "You can believe it's a garden if you want," and then walked away.

I will keep believing it is a garden.  Maybe one day it will be free of weeds and grass.  Maybe I will see that it is lush with foliage and flowers.  Maybe I will see it as it was in our minds when we planted it.  I just have to believe that it is a garden.

Generations of Love

P is getting big but she has so far resisted the idea of getting a "big girl bed."  She does not want to give up her crib.  She likes to read books in her crib at night and to stay in her crib long after she is awake in the morning.  I thought that she might like the idea of a big bed better if we made a quilt for a big bed.

My Grandmother and her neighbor, Margaret, used to make quilts together for the babies in the family.  They made D. this Dresden plate baby quilt when he was born.

Margaret was also the one who helped my mother make "Dutch Girl" blocks using feed sacks as background when she was just a child.  My sister, G., now has those blocks.   I thought it fitting that I ask Margaret to make the blocks for P's quilt.  We have chosen 25 from the blocks she sent and they will be put together with sashing and cornerstones.  This is a special family project for me. Though neither my mother nor grandmother lived to meet P., she'll soon be sleeping under a quilt they have both had a hand in creating.  I like to picture her sleeping under three generations of love and stitches.
 

Swap Happy

Swaps.  I love 'em.  It means I get fun stuff in the mail that was made just for me! What is better than that!
I got this quilt from Hope at Going Sew Crazy.  It has a great quilty feel to it.  Very drapey and I love all those fabrics!  It has a black binding with white polka dots that really makes it pop.  P wants it for her babies in the cradle.

These matryoshka dolls came in the mail today. These are from the five things swap on flickr.  I am always fascinated at the different things people do to fit the theme.

Uptown Boot Socks

I have had these socks on my knitting list since the pattern appeared in the Winter 2003 issue of Interweave Knits.  The pattern, Uptown Boot Socks by Jennifer L. Appleby, is also included in Favorite Socks 25 Timeless Designs from Interweave.
A. and I knit this pair from Garnstudio's Baby-ull 100% Merino.  I love the mustard color.  We used size 2 needles and 64 stitches. 
It is good that I enjoy knitting with the baby ull as I have a pillowcase full of it in my deep freezer.  We won't mention that the ENTIRE freezer is full of wool or that I actually purchased the freezer when the yarn shop where I used to teach went out of business and B. suggested that I buy a 10 year supply of yarn while it was on sale! Since the freezer is to keep the yarn moth free I only store the animal fiber yarns there.  The cotton and other yarns are stored in other areas of the house, like in old suitcases that are not in use...
It does make it interesting when looking for a particular yarn and can't remember where I stored it.  More often, I'll be looking for something else and I'll come across a stash of yarn I had forgotten about.

I know I am not alone. I bet you have yarn, fabric, beads, or some crafty supplies stored in strange places too. What creative storage ideas have you come up with?

Just keep spinning, spinning, spinning

Yesterday and today, I have been spinning the big ball of fiber into yarn.  I will make the yarn 2 ply and hope to use it for a pair of socks.

Frost

The chickens are not the only obstacle to getting plums from our trees.  Last night we had a hard frost.  We went out in the dark and put tarps over the trees. 

B also put an old coal burning stove under the larger tree.   He got up several times in the night to add some wood to the fire.

Let's hope it worked.