The deerest quilt ever is still in pieces, waiting for me to start sewing on it again. I'm making in for my dear little Annika, one of the sweetest girls I know. ...and it's just that sweet nature that has helped delay her quilt being finished.

She just had to have a gift for each member of our family, and, when you're only nine...and your family is large, your resources get depleted pretty quickly. I was impressed that she had obtain 6 gifts before she went broke. She came to me, hoping for "money jobs", but I offered to help her make some gifts instead. I have a pretty good stash a fabric - already paid for!


Cozy was first on the list. Since she loves to carry around tiny spoons and eat imaginary food off of them, we decided she would like a pocket to put them in.


We found a little apron pattern on Sew Liberated. Annika picked out the fabric, and we each sewed about 1/2 of the seams. I gave her all of the annoying jobs - like turning casings right-side out. :) It's amazing how much her sewing has improved. Straight lines!


...and since it was lined, I thought it might as well be reversible.


I love the velcro closure - something even little hands can do on their own.


We found some long-lost train fabric to make something for Booboo. Originally, he was going to get an apron too....but we were tired. So, we whipped out a pillowcase.


Tony put him in it after he opened it on Christmas morning....


...so that's all he'll use it for now! A Booboo-case.

What I DID crank out

Once again, I had big plans to make gifts for Christmas.

I'll let you in on how that went. When I went to find my little boy pj pattern today, I found it in a gallon bag with all of the shirt pieces I had cut out last year. I think I'd better go ahead and sew them up - seems wasteful not too, since the pants (that I did finish) still fit them.

It's a good thing I bought my flannel for $1.29/yd on Black Friday. :) ...and I'm making kids (Jon will be old enough this year, so it's no longer girls.) go to sewing camp again this summer (hopefully with some cousins!) The "sewing ladies" always start them off with pillowcases and jammie pants, so it doesn't hurt to have extra flannel lying around.

What I did finish:
Two "mug rugs".


When I explained to Sofi what I was making - basically a coaster big enough for your cup and some cookies, she said, "You mean...like a plate?"...and looked at me as if it was the stupidest idea ever. (It's not. I've had stupider.) "Yes. Like a plate - but cuter."

...and a quilt for my Mom.


I only managed to finish that because it's been half-done for months now. I just had to bind it.

My Mom-In-Law got its fraternal twin when we had Becky's auction, so I thought it would be nice for my mom to have matchy one. They'll just be the mom quilts.


...and my sweet Annika - peeking out.

Soaked by the Yule Tide

...and it feels so nice. We had such a fun, relaxed Christmas. My parents and grandma spent the holiday with us, and I think it just made Christmas for me (that and lots of yummy food...mmm....enchilladas...).

...and the kids got just what they wanted for Christmas...even if they had to steal it from someone else. When I woke up, Boo was playing with the remote-control My Little Pony airplane Santa brought for Cozy. He got a glockenspiel.

He only likes it when Sofi plays the Iron Man theme song on it for him. :)


Grandpa was all over the glockenspiel.

Odie opened one of his books (yes, I'm that kind of mean parent - only Santa and Grandparents give toys) and regifted it to his sister before my very eyes! I guess my aim was off with that one - but this one hit its mark!


All of the girls loved the headbands Aunt Beth made them!


Cozy's even matched her Mrs.Claus dress.


Coz - Day dreaming of sugar plums with Grandma.


It's such a blessing to have loved ones with you for Christmas. It felt extra special this year. Merry Christmas!

More Krispy Kremes

We met some the Veatch cousins at Krispe Kremes to give our Christmas gifts. Maybe we should have found something further away from the mall (for a Saturday near Christmas!), but there aren't a lot of places to just hang out near where the highway meets the freeway. ...plus, there are doughnuts.


Maddy got a Dsi for Christmas, so it wasn't hard to get the older kids to all gather for a group picture. Completely unstaged.


The little kids were a different story. James, Natalie and Cozy just turned up as little blurs, running back and forth by the doughnut conveyor belt!


The menfolk.



Can I just say that I've been having a very emotional month. I think my total lack of vitamen D is partly to blame. (I miss the sun!) I know it's a cocktail of sun deprivation, stress, and grief, but regardless of the reasons, my anything tolerance is extremely low right now.

So, it made me very happy to pass this quilt on to Becky's family.




It just makes me cry to have it around. I think she would have really liked it.

Maddy's Quilt

This quilt is just slightly overdue. Maddy's birthday was in June. (I did give her a Pokemon toy as a place holder.) When Maddy was visiting us this summer, she chose out some pretty blue and orange fabrics. I never would have quessed that she would like them. So, when I heard she was getting an American Girl doll for Christmas, (Don't worry, she already has it. I'm not spilling anyone's secrets!) I thought I'd better get on the ball and make sure her doll had a place to sleep.

Orange and blue stars.



Cute doll bed we found at Goodwill.


I need to start doing before and after shots of things like this, because the white paint and tufted mattress (so easy to make!) made a shabby doll bed into this beauty!


Happy 9 1/2 th birthday, Maddy!

Distraction

I've been doing all of this sewing...but it hasn't been super fun. Because, as much as I love starting projects, I'm just not as into finishing them. The creative part is fun. The other part is a lot of work.


So, last night I took a break from making quilt binding to peek at a blog or two....and that was the end of productivity.

....unless you call making the most adorable deer potholder ever productive.


When I saw Netties awesome pot holders, I just had to drop what I was doing and make one. Sadly, all of my "peopled" fabric is already destined for something. ...but deer are people too, right? (Dad, feel free to disagree.)

Now Sofia and I are fighting about whether or not it's legal to make something this cute into a pot holder. She wants to frame it. Or at the very least, turn it into a pillow....so I might be forced to make more. :)

Where are my deer scraps from? Something I should be working on.

Thai Tapioca

My husband hasn't been travelling anywhere exotic (Iowa, DC, Virginia, Pennsylvania) ...and yet he's managed find some quite exotic recipes during his hum-drum excursions.

This one comes care of my in-laws. YUM! They say you're supposed to eat it warm, but I love it cold - with lots of the coconut cream on it. (I'm trying to think of more things I can put the coconut cream on! So good!)

You might have to visit your local Asian market for some of the ingredients. We finally found baby coconut meat in the frozen section (instead of a can), but had no problem locating tiny, non-instant tapioca pearls. The can of coconut milk...you can probably get anywhere...commisary...Safeway.

So,checklist:
bag of tapioca
can of baby coconut meat (or frozen container - whatever)
can of coconut milk
sugar

Thai Tapioca

Boil 1 quart water (1 qt. = 4 cups)

add 1 cup of tapioca to the boiling water AND stir until they are mostly transparent

add 2/3 to 1 cup of sugar and stir until the sugar dissolves

Remove from heat

Pour into storage container

Add 1/3 can of coconut meat (in our case - thawed coconut) and 1/3 of the coconut water from the can

Store in the fridge! :)

To serve: warm in microwave and top with coconut cream (mix a can of coconut milk with a couple tbsp of sugar and store in frig. Yum.)...and I think we tripled the recipe?

Belated and Elated

Wow. This post has been sitting around, half-finished for about a month now. Oops.

Featuring: Anthony!


Q: What's cooler than getting a fun late birthday present in the mail?


A: Having it contain something edible and gross (to tease your sisters with)!

Everyone loved the "Crickettes"....but no one loved eating them. They were our favorite flavour, but we just couldn't get past the little legs. Thanks, Beth and James!

P.S. The gummie army men were awesome too!

The Horror

No one came to look at my house (still for sale) during all of October and November...and I've been nothing but grateful for that. We have just had too much going on. With Becky passing away, we're just now getting back in the swing of things with school (Not to blame you, Becky - it just threw us all for a loop.), much less house cleaning.

Tuesday broke the streak.

My nine-year old answered the phone around 11am.

I hear, "Yea. Uh-huh. Sure. Ok, see you then."

Me: Who was that?
Annika: Oh, someone is coming to see the house at 5:30.
Me: Dear, please don't answer the phone anymore.

Who makes appointments with 9-year-olds? Not that I wouldn't have let them see the house! ...but if they had asked to stop by in ten minutes, she'd have probably said the same thing...and it took me cleaning from 11 until 5:30 to get the house in buy-me condition.

The horror. I'd rather have been working on this:


...or one my secret Christmas presents - instead of packing them all away!

call me Minnie...

...the Moocher - not the mouse.

I'm a terrible gardener. Actually, I'm decent with plants...as long as they aren't supposed to produce food. Those kind never seem to work out for me. This year we ate 2 green tomatoes out of our garden. That's it. Sad.

....so we mooch. My Dad lets us pick all we want at his house. This year we stole potatoes and beets.




Dad pickled the beets and Mom delivered them (along with some yummy raspberry jam) when she came for the Festival of Trees! How did I get so lucky?


What's the white stuff in the jar on the right? - only what's left of the indian corn my Dad grew, ground, and donated to his non-farming daughter. At least I know how to make corn bread!


If his gardening skills and bee knowledge skip a generation...I guess I'd be ok with that. When I'm old, my kids can deliver the fresh produce. :)