Finished sewing project line up

I could write about someone's first birthday, a slew of summer visitors, our fabulous vacation or a new virtual quilting bee that I joined.  But I have some very important, yet unfinished business to attend to today.  I'm overdue in properly introducing you all to Margene.  She and I have been busy ever since I asked for some help in naming her.  The photos below are my finished sewing projects for April and May.  June's sewing will have to wait for another day. 

First up is the Best Bib pattern from the JCasa *handmade.  I tried the pattern because I thought it would be a great way to practice quilting techniques.  Then I got completely hooked on bibs and on quilting.

These bibs were for a charity auction for Womancraft (awesome organization--really, go check the link).

These were for gifts.

(Two of these bibs were sent to two wonderful mothers that donated some breastmilk to Henry when he was about six months old.  I send yet another "thank you" out to them.) 

I loved making these rag quilt letters from a tutorial on Happy Together.  This bright set was a gift for one of Henry's internet baby friends.  ::waving::  Hi Scout!

I hope to make another set for Henry to play with soon.  This has been his favorite book for months now. ("I'm a Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuss, as you can plainly see.")

And this was a gift for Scout's mom.  The quilted photo album cover was a pattern I made up myself.

This may be my favorite bib to date.  It is a first birthday bib for Henry's friend River.  (She came to visit recently, so you'll hear more about her soon.)

And last, but not least, a gift potholder for my sister-in-law.  I absolutely love how this turned out and I want to make another just like it for me.












Check out the labels I made recently.  The bibs have them, too.

So a couple of months ago I had a grand plan to make Margene a nice sewing machine cover to keep the dust off.  But she rarely has much downtime, so I'm plugging away at the rest of my sewing list instead.

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I did it!

On Saturday I made it through my first triathlon! 

The swim was crazy tough and a lot of people passed me, but I still beat my own swim time by 2 minutes!  The bike ride was hilly but exhilarating.  Unfortunately I can't say the same about the run, but I can say that I finished the whole thing in about 2 hours and 9 minutes.   

There may even be a next time and it may be in late July.  We'll see.

For now, I can entertain you with silly photos of Ben and I.

Before:

After:

And the best pit crew and baby watching team ever:

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Seeing Red

Everywhere I go today:

Red, red, red.

I never buy strawberries at the store.  We wait for the local season, pick a few flats ourselves and then I can jam, freeze some berries whole and freeze some sliced and (barely) sweetened.  I also eat as many as I can stuff myself with while they are still fresh.  So, today, we indulged in waffles stacked high with berries and whipped cream.  (They were devoured too quickly for photos though.)  We also had berries for late lunch and after dinner and we'll have more tomorrow for breakfast. 

This is my favorite local eating quote from Barbara Kingsolver's fantastic book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.  Please note that I'm substituting strawberries for asparagus.  I think it still applies:


"...[Strawberries] seem like a good place to start.  And if the object of our delayed gratification is a suspected aphrodisiac?  That's the sublime paradox of a food culture:  restraint equals indulgence. "

So, my hands and counters are dyed pink, but the freezer is flush with berries to be enjoyed in another season.

Picking season photos are a wonderful way to show how time passes.  There is no way he'd fit in a flat today.

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