birthday quilt

“Mommy, you made it! The sunrise quilt!”

And made it I did — just barely! Stitching into the wee hours of the morning, I finished this wonderful, beautiful quilt for my girl.

Being up so late brought back many of those early-morning memories of babyhood, and of the night I gave birth. I saw so many sunrises in those early days of my daughter’s life. How I remember watching the sun rise over the lake and nursing the little treasure in my arms and wondering at the beauty of it all. There’s nothing like stitching the binding to give you time to reflect.

So sunrises always make me think of my big girl (now 7!). As a tribute to all those happy memories, I made this quilt for her. I used the lovely Folksy Flannel fabric by Anna Maria Horner and lined it with some linen from my stash. Is it a sign that your stash is too large (or just right?) when you happen to have 5 yards of mulberry-colored linen in it waiting for the right project to come along?

This birthday was filled with magical moments, but perhaps my favorite was seeing Catherine come home after school and curl up in her new quilt, quietly, naturally, as though it was right where she belonged. Happy Birthday, sweet girl.

making new friends…

{my new friend}

We’ve had a lot of sewing machine turnover around here lately. Machines lent, broken, replacements lent, broken. I’ve been doing some of the lending, some of the breaking — but not all. Yet with big birthday no. 7 coming up tomorrow, there needs to be some serious sewing in the next 24 hours. So I’ve gotten out the real racehorse sewing machine, that my friend lent to me — an antique Royal machine, with the engine of a thoroughbred and a frighteningly sharp needle. Wow!

So I’m making a new sewing machine friend, but cautiously. This is a much more powerful sewing machine than any I’ve used before. As old as it is, it can really move! It reminds me of wonderful grannies who run marathons in the oldest age group, or start rock bands at 91.

And it’s getting the job done. The quilt is coming together, hopefully in time for a breakfast delivery tomorrow morning.

How I remember bringing that lovely little baby home from the hospital, wrapped up against the bitter February weather! Even though that baby is turning 7 tomorrow, I still want her to have something to cuddle up with on cold February nights, with the warmth of Mama’s hug and the colors of the sunrise.

making milkweed

I love the connecting power of the Internet!

Recently, I was so delighted to hear about and participate in The Milkweed Project, Shan Bryan-Hanson’s collaborative fiber art project. Shan is creating a giant milkweed pod from white knitted and crocheted pieces from hundreds, maybe thousands of different fiber folk from all over the world. Here are some pictures of the piece I made.

I cast on and just started knitting, each stitch leading to the next. It was the most organic, original and delightful bit of knitting I’ve ever done. It felt so liberating to be knitting with no end result in mind, except to create something that was white and resembled a milkweed seed in some way. I think it will really change the way I knit. I’ve started thinking of so many non-traditional projects since I sent my “milkweed seed” off in the mail.

Progress on the project can be found on their Web site. Although the deadline for contributions has passed, I think Shan is still looking for venues for the finished art work. You’ve got to check out some of the other knitted pieces. They are so inspiring! Thank you, Shan, for this wonderful chance to create art with you and so many talented other fiber artists!

Last of Healthy Food

Just a few weeks before Christmas I heard that one of my favorite Chicago institutions, the Lithuanian restaurant Healthy Food in the Bridgeport neighborhood, was closing on December 15. I immediately called my friend Bonnie, to whom I had already broken the news that the beloved Gwen Frostic store was closed — oh, the bad tidings! We decided to meet at Healthy Food for lunch one last time and follow it up with some thrift store therapy at the Unique Thrift at 31st and Halsted.

Oh, Healthy Food. What’s not to love? The yummy, hearty food, the wood paneling, the quirky case full of amber jewelry, everything so cozy — the perfect place for a winter meal. I’ve loved it since I first went there in college. Of the old-school places in Chicago back then, there aren’t so many left now. So Bonnie, Lizzy and I had one last hurrah — what a great meal it was:

{delicious borscht}

{we made quick work of the bread basket}

{main course  — breaded pork chops and mashed potatoes in gravy}

{Lizzy had Lithuanian pancakes with strawberries}

{don’t skip dessert — homemade apricot napoleon cake for us and rhubarb pie for Bonnie}

Good-bye, Healthy Food! We’ll miss you.

saying goodbye to the holidays…

Um, a little late…I know.

January clean-up. I always aspire to it, but ah, getting there. I’m certainly not a December-26th-Christmas-tree-out-the-door type of person. When I watch folks on the Web show off their beautifully tidy and trim post-holiday homes, I think longingly about what that might look like for me, for my house and my family. And maybe because it’s hard to imagine, it’s hard to get there.

And it brings up a larger question for me. What does it take to have a neat and tidy, uncluttered home? Part of it must be puttering. Putting things back where they belong. Maybe tinkering is a better word, fixing, throwing out, bringing in, keeping things in motion so that nothing gets too old, too lost, too stale.

In general, I don’t switch the furniture around all the time, as do my Mom, my brother and some one else I know. While I do love the results of a well-edited lifestyle, it feels like there’s a gap in my knowledge. A “how did they DO that?” as though I were watching someone walk across a tightrope balancing a glass of orange juice on their head. But with the New Year and all the talk of fresh corners, it’s not a bad time to start becoming that person.

So I gave it a shot. Well before my usual February 14th deadline, I took down the Christmas tree. With a little help from a friend. And I created a little reading corner where the tree used to be. We gave the Christmas stories a last read-through and put those away, too.

And you know what? It felt good. It felt easy and fine. Maybe I can do this, and be the arranger & editor I aspire to be.

Or maybe I need a bit more practice?

New Year’s Hat

My friend Molly wrote up the instructions for me to this amazing hat. I remember her talking about how very, very slouchy it was, but I was still surprised at the first wearing. Maybe I need to give it a little tightening up with some blocking (or hot water?). But I love the color — Lorna’s Laces in poppy.

I knit it up on New Year’s Day, cast on to cast off. This quick and nifty hat bodes well for a long, happy year of knitting.

snapshots of Christmas :: making

Oh, the crafting before Christmas! Wouldn’t it be lovely to move Christmas to February, a month which really needs a little pick-me-up?

This crazy elf stayed up until the wee hours three nights running trying to finish Christmas presents in secret — although it wasn’t much of a secret when the noisy sewing machine kept waking up even the sleepiest — sorry, guys. And I’m not sure I was at my best between 1 and 3 a.m. Maybe that’s why accidents kept happening. If it hadn’t been so late at night, perhaps I wouldn’t have stitched my Mom’s Christmas blanket into a sack, by weaving in the ends through both sides of the blanket. Ooops. Powered by green tea and Pete Seeger tunes, I made it through. And here are some of the happy results:

{a little handmade fairy for each of my girls, based on the instructions from Wee Felt Folk}

{a special Christmas doll blanket}

{my brother’s Christmas scarf}

{my niece’s art roll, complete with Barebooks and shimmery colored pencils}

{a knitted cotton blanket, from Knitting for Peace, for my Mom}

Several of my handmade things were whisked into wrappings and given to their recipients before I could photograph them  – such an oops! — but while looking for a picture of the white blanket above I found this picture, from the weekend I cast on, many months ago, at a farm in Wisconsin during the last days of our summer vacation. Can you make out the first few inches of knitting there, next to a sleeping Lizzy?

That knitting kept me happy through the long miles of our scenic drive, and all those slow lovely days at the farm. So happy to know it will be keeping my mom warm this winter. That must be one of the finest things about handmade presents, the way memories and moments of your life are wrapped up in the gift.

Happy New Year to you and yours!

getting ready…

For weeks and weeks now we’ve been getting ready — practicing, decorating, counting days, crafting. I wish I’d written a post for each of the pictures below — they deserve their own post. Each represents such a wonderful moment of celebration or togetherness this holiday season, but as usual with the happiest of times; it’s been a bit of a blur.

I love Christmas because it invites moments like these. Who couldn’t use more giving, sharing, singing, crafting, reading, celebrating the sun and the seasons? I find so much joy in the getting ready….

Merry Christmas and a joyous season to you all!

Ornament swap out the door!

Happy to say I got the ornaments for small fox’s First Annual Ornament Swap out the door! So glad. I took such a long time deciding what to make that I was left with little time for the making — some would say the most important part. But the making did turn out to be delightful, my first bit of crafting for the holidays. I learned how to make Swedish paper hearts at the Swedish American Museum in Andersonville last year and since then I’ve been wanting to try it with felt. Well, it works great! I tweaked the pattern a bit, so that it would be flat and not a basket, but I’m sure it would work if you had enough felt.

{finished hearts with a little thank-you something for small fox}

And of course Lizzy watched me and asked a million questions, the first and most persistent of which was, “Can I make one?” Of course! So I got out the old red sweater I’d recently felted and we went to it. She made two ornaments, and a crown and did most of the stitching herself. She’s getting very handy. And doesn’t her crafty Mama love that!

Button Swap 2009

After reading the last few posts, you may be thinking, Wow, this girl can’t stop with the swaps! And you’d be right. I love sending mail. I love getting mail. And  I’m at an impasse with artwork, so swaps are a way for me to create, communicate, share within some guidelines, while I figure out what I really want to be up to.

My button swap partner Wendy told me that she loved buttons with great textures, orange, green and brown and that she did a lot of sewing. Oh, and she loves over-sized buttons. So here is what I sent:

I stitched the buttons onto some cross-stitch fabric in a nice old wooden embroidery hoop (can you have too many of these? I don’t think so…) and included a note on my favorite Gwen Frostic stationery, as well as a little envelope of “Extra Buttons,” pretty awesome. I had some to send that didn’t quite fit, so I made those the extras — just tiny whimsical, worn little buttons I thought Wendy might like anyway.

And Lizzy helped me draw the wonderful wintry picture to decorate the mailer. Enjoy the buttons, Wendy! Thanks for a lovely swap, Hannah!