Spring sewing miscelany: PJs, Blanket....

 Finally, a great hooded sweater that Grandma knit is the right size, and so cuddly on G.

 Cute Hula rice-crispy bears by Auntie Geralyne and friends... note the lei made of candies... G. ate that first.

 Just a sassy mulch picture.  Ordering this stuff was unexpectedly stressful... what exactly to order, how much... how much if they don't do half yards... what to do what to do what to do... For future reference, we ended up coming from Macfarlanes, but heard good things about Calackamas Landscape too... we got 3 yards of hemlock mulch and 1 generous yard of bark-chips.

 New jammies for Owen.  I used the cute owl fabric again.. I have enough for one more project, these owls are so great!

And a baby blanket for Katie and Adam's baby... yellow flannel back, red kona cotton on the front, a really cute martini olive type pattern for the binding, I really love the binding... A few fiddly bits (prairie corners) added for the baby to play-with.  I know it's maybe not the most stimulating blanket, but I really like the modern look to it... plus the colors are versatile, since we don't know if baby will be a boy or a girl.

mornin'

 We got a bunch of pebeo porcelaine pens before Christmas, we've made a few cute mugs and its a fun way to spruce up some plain bowls!
Lost:  Alas, another favorite mug down.

 I have great love for every roommate I have had!  You guys are awesome, but living with folks was sometimes... just busy, so my favorite escape was to get up early before work and go to Harry's in La Jolla.  I'd share breakfast with others who ate at 7am, at the counter, mostly oatmeal and coffee.  Anyhow I loved some of those mornings, even got to see Harry a few times.  I've used this mug ever since!

 Bye favored mug!

Waiting... for a new baby Davidson!  Made this new baby blanket, after a bit of a baby blanket hiatus around here.

  It's a whole cloth blanket, but I fell in love with the owls and plaid binding.  I machine quilted along the branch lines with dark grey thread on the back so it kinda looks like branches.  It turned out pretty well, overall not my best sewing, but in the end it made me happy!

Added a few prairie points on the back with scraps for the little'un to fiddle with.  

Hopefully it will serve for many happy hours of snuggline and reading together.

about me

Travel/food:  
Once when traveling in Paris, for Christmas dinner, I (or should I implicate my cousin as well and say we) ordered the only thing on the menu that I couldn't translate simply because it was "....Flambe".

it was liver

lots of liver

it was not on fire

Style:
My shopping swings widely between consignment/thrift stores and Nordstroms.  Nothing beats Nordstroms for being fitted and helped with picking out a new bra or for customer service, which is huge for someone who gets a little nervous shopping.  Nothing beats the thrift stores for finding super awesome jeans that actually fit almost every-time I look in for under $30  I don't know how it happens, but it does (my luck that by declaring it my luck will run out).

Health:
I have allergies like crazy, though the impact in Portland is substantially less severe than California.  After the long, grey, wet, winter breaks into joyous, beautiful, sunny, breezy, blooming spring... I huddle inside slightly woozy with the drugs and with the air conditioner and air filter on so I can breathe. This is even more discouraging with kids that you want desperately to (and indeed do) shoo outside, but know they will come back in covered with pollen.  Stoopid allergies. 

Things I have learned in daycare

1.  Boogers happen, runny noses, coughs, sneezes, heck even lice, foot and mouth and whatever cringe-worthy bugs come through...these things fall under the "that which does not kill us" category (much like school meals).
2.  When in doubt, call someone a friend.
3.  Greet people with "Hello Friends!" "Bye Friends" "Thank you Friend" I now have the affliction of calling any unknown group of people our friends... our bus friends, our store friends, our library friends.
4.  Hold hands (this has backfired, since they aren't supposed to hold hands in Kindergarten, but I don't care... hold hands)
5.  Clean-up Clean-up Everybody do your share.
6.  Wash your hands often.
7.  Daycare teachers are miracle workers as evidenced by simultaneous and consistent nap-times for 10 kids, daily.  Respect y'all.
8.  Cutie pie little chairs, little tables and little potties are just tooo much.
9.  In spite of how my kids act at home, they really do know how to share, how to play independently, how to eat, how to clean up, how to sleep.
10.  There are a lot of personalities, learning styles, backgrounds, diets, but we can all hold hands, walk together, play together, those things make the class and make our lives more entertaining and fun!

Tee hee, can I add something that I learned in the coffee shop, from eavesdropping on the cute young hipster neighbors:  "I have never had coffee cake AND coffee together before... Oh My GOD!  People were so right, this is so good together!  The flavors all totally complement each other, they are so good!" (general affirmation of this observation confirmed among all four friends).

flowery ear warmers

 Made loopy felt flowers in homage to the beautiful Chrysanthemum we have in honor of Chinese New Year!  Yes that's a pommelo wearing a headband, deal with it.   Stopped by Jo-Anns for some t-shirts to screen print Brian's Dragon drawing onto and saw the ear-warmers. 

 Grabbed three and stitched the flowers onto them and voila!

  fun gifties for the little girl cutie patooties.  

The shirts are drying, but he did a nice job, more soon!

and how great are these?

From Santa... who serged the edges and stamped the kids initials on the corners, a set, of a lot... a dozen maybe for each kiddo, we use them daily.  I am so a hankerchief person, and my kids are getting there too. To answer myself... these are very great.

mmmmmmm

 mmmmm for Momofuku's bo ssam.  We don't have a lot of days where we just hang out for six or more hours at home, but with the long weekend, the cold, drizzly weather, we took advantage of our dull, quiet weekend to toss a hunk of pork in the oven and roast the dickens out of it.  Oh my.  Oh my.  oh my..... so very very good.

We (as advised by the recipe) had some nice butter lettuce,ginger scallion sauce (good on everything I think), ssam jam sauce,  fresh pickles (we did beets, cucumbers and apples, the apples with the pork were my fav), our friends came with their homemade kimchee (seriously, perfect for the topping, and can't say that I like kimchee, until now) and some korean beers. We omitted the oysters, mostly out of laziness, I am sure they are good, but I'm not sure how much better this could get.   I really don't know what to say, it was very pleasant.  We have the cookbook, but it is also printed in the NYtimes and elsewhere.

NOT difficult, just requires a chilly cool afternoon at home, some friends who will bring their appetites, the perfect accouterments and awesome and fun company because you WILL need friends to share it with, even if you are crazy hungry,...that's a lot of (tasty, tender, perfectly done falling apart) meat.