Monday, March 29, 2010

Baby Blanket


I pieced together a quick baby blanket over the last couple of weekends for Clizziare, my collage friend who now has one month to go before birth day! This is Amy Butler Midwest Modern fabric I'd been saving and not sure what to do with. I had two fat quarters (center and around the center), and a yard of the big boarder and a yard of polka dots for the back and little corners. I didn't want to cut up the big pattern of the flowers so I made that my focus, and put in two boarders and called it a quilt! The backing is the same little dots you see in the small squares around the first boarder. I fussy cut the outside boarder to keep the lines of pink consistent. I machine stitched the binding, I uhh, wanted it to hold up to frequent washings (or, I'm just lazy!)
I practiced my free motion by tracing the large flowers in a matching pink, and did stitch in the ditch for each boarder. I think some wide spaced (maybe 3 inches) horizontal lines along the outside would have been nice, but I didn't think of it until I was wrapping this for a baby shower on Saturday. The free motion takes some practice, I tried area stores to buy a $29 sew slip or supreme slider to make the fabric move nicely so you can control your work, but I no one had them and half thought I was crazy! After my husband raised his eyebrows at the idea of buying 'quilting gloves,' I made due with some 99 cent plastic kitchen gloves, and it gave me the traction I needed.
I struggled with making such a simple quilt with such quality fabric (read: expensive) but in the end, a simple well made quilt can show off a nice fabric and you don't need to complicate things. And, if halfway through the process it becomes an okay-made quilt to an "at least it will keep the baby warm" made quilt. That's okay, too!
You can see my plum tree is in full bloom, expect plums at least a month earlier than usual.

Beach Again

We had a stretch of sunny, warm days and we took advantage of them by being outside as much as possible. This is our beach visit, our goal was to find a sea worm. She had fun, she's just acting mad here! She can be very dramatic, I don't know where she gets it.

Low tide can be slimy!
His hair is like that b/c of the wind-just kidding his hair always looks like that!


They either play together or right next to each other!

We found a baby sea star and a small worm which were both returned safely to the sea. Of course, we got ice cream at Woody's and watched the ferry boats.

Monday, March 22, 2010

What Does it Mean to You?

Well, we were glued to the news last night watching the final votes come in and we are very excited to see health care reforming! When I woke up, the sky had not fallen, so I suppose, if you don't agree, we should give this a chance, right!

The majority of my family members have had cancer or other pre-existing condition which would prevent them from ever getting insurance on their own. That is no longer the case. If my husband wants to build guitars for a living, we can search for our own coverage now. If my dad wants to retire before 65 (which he should), he can now get affordable coverage for my mom and him. Unfortunately, there has been a great deal of misinformation and a number of people don't feel the way I do. Not a majority of people, because we voted for Obama to do just what he's done. So, I wanted to copy a post from his website of exactly what this could mean to you and what starts happening now, this year.

Click here for the full site. Here's the text. I encourage you to visit the white house website: www.whitehouse.gov


The White House Blog
Reform Begins
Posted by Dan Pfeiffer on March 22, 2010 at 08:36 AM EDT
After more than a year of extensive debate, the House voted last night to pass the most significant health reform legislation this country has seen in decades. It was a historic victory for the American people. And now, millions of Americans – workers, families, seniors, small business owners – stand to benefit from lower health care costs, expanded coverage and tough consumer protections.
This year, thousands of uninsured Americans with pre-existing conditions will have the opportunity to purchase quality, affordable health insurance. Beginning in 2010, small business owners will no longer be forced to choose between offering health care and hiring new employees because they’ll be offered tax credits of up to 35 percent of premiums to help insure their employees. Medicare beneficiaries will no longer wonder how they’ll afford their prescription drug bills because they’ll be given a rebate of $250 if they hit the prescription drug donut hole in 2010. And early retirees will be provided help through the creation of a temporary re-insurance program to help offset the costs of expensive premiums.
This year, you will now have the security of knowing that insurers cannot deny coverage to your child because of a pre-existing condition. You won’t have to live every day in fear of having your insurance taken away from you if you get sick. And for new plans, there won’t be lifetime or restrictive annual limits on the amount of care you receive from your insurance companies.
Because we didn’t settle for the status quo, Americans who have insurance will now have the security and stability of knowing their coverage will be there when they need it most, and the millions of Americans who don’t have insurance will be provided with quality, affordable options. The legislation passed last night brings down health care costs for American families and small businesses, expands coverage to millions of Americans and ends the worst practices of insurance companies. And it begins to do so this year.
Dan Pfeiffer is White House Communications Director

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Doctor Visit

Time to register for kindergarten and that means getting some shots for Butters. This is probably the hardest thing to do as a parent. First, to decide what vaccinations you want them to have, if it's the right thing for your family in the first place, then the actual act. The nurse told Butters to look at his mom while she and another nurse inserted needles into each arm. He face dropped, he had a look of fear, then pain, then he cried and said, "I don't like that, I never want to do that again!" Two MORE! In the end: 4 shots, 80% height and weight, 20/20 vision and we are ready to start school.


I spent about 2.5 hours at the doctor, with both kids. E got attached to a pink fabric dog she was playing with, and started crying not wanting to leave the dog. When Butters got to pick out stickers, he got one for his sister, too, to make her feel better. As we walked out to the parking lot, Butters totally melted again and started crying. The princess said, "Help make Tarter feel better!" She gave him her sticker. They were so sweet we went out for ice cream after. When they are good to each other like that, it reminds me why we had them so close together.


As I type, Butters was giving her shots, "for viruses." And she presumably was not allowed to get up.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

I Love You Like I Love Strawberry Milkshakes




I love fresh strawberry milkshakes! These two even eat differently: Butters meticulously ate all the sprinkles first, then dove right in and the Princess drank it all up with the straw and then worked on the whip cream. (I'm not sure why her complexion looks so pale. She's not feeling well but we have been out in the sun at every chance! She gets it honest. All the crap on the floor in the back is from Hullaballoo, one of the best kids games ever.)


In knitting news, I finished a pair of Coriolis socks by Cat Bordi. This is a crazy toe up new kind of sockitecture that blows your mind! I don't have duck feet, that's just the angle, but you can looks close and see how they spiral out clock wise and counter clockwise for the other foot. Yarn is Wild Foote by cascade, double stranded. ModificationsI changed the top to a rib and increased every third stitch then bound off to keep them from being too tight (which they were at first). These are bound for my brother in law. You can find this pattern free on the DIY website. I've got some serious startitus and I casted on for the Minimalist Cardigan and I plan to cast on for Rusted Root as soon as my swatch dries.
Milkshakes are gone and the bubble machine is going, I better log off.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

No Medal For Me


I didn't finish my Olympic Mittens on time, in fact, I might just make them fingerless gloves! I can only manage about 3 rows in an hour, too much concentration needed for these to turn out right. I challanged myself with colorwork, but a true olympian would just keep going. So, I'll press on and finish these some day! Thanks for the challenge, Harlot!

Springtime!









The sun brings out the best in us! We had our first outdoor lunch of the year, in March, I cannot believe it! Messy hair and food on their faces, our signature!