You Just Know comments: 125

We had a busy weekend here! Greta and I spent most of it assembling kits and things are moving along really well. Right now my plan is to put the bunny kits on sale in my web shop on Friday.We are making a lot of kits so please don't worry about them selling out. I'm pretty excited! Thank you for your enthusiasm about these so far. I have such a soft spot for this project. There is a lot of love stitched into this little bunny and her clothes. Thank you for being a part of it!

(BTW, I added an email subscription thing on my left-hand blog sidebar. Also, to those of you who have written to tell me that when you click on the "Subscribe" link it gives you a page of code: I asked Typepad about that and they told me that if you use Chrome for your browser that will happen. So they suggested adding the email subscription like FeedBurner as a solution. I hope that helps! I don't use feeds myself so my knowledge about them is totally limited — I'm sorry!)

I'm feeling pretty tired and quiet, so Amelia and I are having a lovely, quiet day here. We've already walked up to the store and back, had lunch, rolled over about a hundred times, and now she's playing with her play gym. I love watching her play by herself. I love hearing her talk to and study and yank on and swat at the toys that hang from the play gym by herself. She's very busy! She is awesome. I'm completely fascinated every day. I just love babies. They're so cool.

Spring is in the air! Don't you love that moment, when you know? I'm ready. I want to be outside more!

Oh, and I forgot to say thank you for the plant suggestions and tips! Don't overwater — okay, roger that! Thank you!

*The first photo is my favorite blueberry-cheesecake waffle from the Waffle Window that Andy and Amelia brought me on Saturday morning. Officially: breakfast. In reality: dessert! Still, yummers. :)

Making Progress comments: 164

Okay. Hi. How are you guys?

Bread. Make it!

Really, you've gotta make it! It's so easy and so good.

Bunnies. Yay for little bunnies! I'm getting a lot of questions about them which I'll try to answer here. Here's where we are: We (and when I say "we" I mean mostly the amazing Greta) are still in the process of preparing all of the materials that will go into the kits. We're planning to start assembling them next week. The kit will include a printed pattern (with instructions and templates), all the felt you need to make the bunny and the boots, embroidery floss, dress fabric, ear fabric, yarn for knitting the capelet, and elastic (to finish the dress). Once all of the kits are completely assembled (it will probably take the whole week), I will put them in the web shop and make an announcement here on the blog. ***UPDATE, 2/26/13: We are making really good progress on assembling the kits, and I'm hoping to put them on sale in the web shop on Friday, March 1. Thank you! There will be twelve different dress fabrics (with coordinating yarn for capelets). This will probably be a kit that we will try to keep permanently stocked in the web shop, but the dress fabrics will definitely be changing once these particular ones are sold out, so if you want a particular dress, don't wait too long. We do ship overseas. There will be a downloadable PDF pattern released at the same time that the kits are released for those of you that already have materials — and materials lists will be posted in the web shop so you can see what you need before you purchase either the kit or pattern only.

I'm hopelessly in love with this bunny, whose name, by the way, is Maggie Rabbit. This pattern (and kit) that we are working on right now will only include instructions (and supplies) to make the bunny herself, a dress, a capelet (yes, you need to know how to knit, or find someone who can), and the boots (all pictured here). But I have many more clothes planned. Like, a lot of clothes planned. I can't help it. This little blue knitted dress? I designed and made it over the weekend and it made me very happy. I expect it will be the first in a line of items all designed to fit this bunny. Those patterns will all be available (as I design them, one at a time) only as downloadable PDFs, and we will stock the yarn and most likely the fabrics separately, so you can pick and choose just the ones you want. My plan is to have crocheted things, boy-bunny things, more knitted things, and a basic wardrobe of sewn things.

I expect I'll have the blue dress pattern ready in a few weeks. But I want to finish these kits first, and get them out the door.

What is perfect about this for me right now is that I do all the design while sitting on the chaise lounge with Amelia sleeping between my legs. I don't have a lot of time to get into the studio (though she does like to sit in her bouncy seat in there — skylights!!!), so tiny clothes are things to work such great things to work on out in the living room. My sweet muse is just so inspiring! I have a million ideas for things I want to make for her. She already loves to play with Maggie. I bought her a vintage doll closet thing and some tiny hangers on Etsy the other day, because she will need it!!! Anyway, it's so much fun.

We also got her the cutest little play gym (that's what they call them, I guess — this is the one we got) last week. It's kind of amazing, because last week she was just sort of looking at it. And this week she is completely into it. Now she reaches for it, talks to it, calls to it, makes bubbles at it, bats at it, laughs at it, tries to roll over under it, looks at herself in the little "mirror" thing. It happens so fast. Every week, every day, she can do something she couldn't do the day before. It is so exciting. Her favorite toy is still her burp cloth ("burpie"). And her dress. She likes to hold the hem of her shirt or her dress in her hand. Everything she does fascinates me.

Let me know if you have any bunny kit questions and I'll come back and answer them here, okay? Thank you!

*The bunny and boots are completely hand-sewn with 2-plies of embroidery floss and blanket stitch (this is a great tutorial). The dress is machine-sewn, with a row of running stitches at the neckline and cuffs to gather. The capelet is knitted in garter stitch with short rows (and for these short rows, I just turn the work and start knitting back — no wrapping or anything else). Very easy.

*There will not be a separate pattern or kit for a boy bunny, but you can easily make this bunny into a boy bunny by changing the ear fabric (just use something less flowery, like stripes or gingham or polka dots) and leaving off the blushy cheeks. There will be boy clothes — pants and a shirt and a sweater and overalls — coming soon.

***UPDATE, 2/26/13: We are making really good progress on assembling the kits, and I'm hoping to put them on sale in the web shop on Friday, March 1. Thank you!

Hearts and Flowers comments: 105

Isn't that just the sweetest little bunny print? I got it here.

Wishing you a most lovely and wonderful weekend, dear friends. I feel like I'm just now finally getting organized again. That feels good. Xoxoxoxoxoxoxo :)

***The lasagna recipe is in the previous post ;)

Little Flowers comments: 149

Ah, February. In Portland, it's sort of a non-month, in my opinion. Not really winter — at least, I stop pining for snow about now. Not spring, though the daffodils show up at the grocery store. Gray as gray ever gets, and brown on the ground, to boot. It's cold, often windy, frequently drizzling. Dark in the morning, dark in the afternoon. I have absolutely no motivation to leave the house in February. I surrender. My little flowers are all indoors. I watch HGTV like crazy. Andy said, from the kitchen, "The brothers are so funny!" Me [very excitedly]: "The Property Brothers??? I know!" Him: "No, the brothers from Oceans Twelve." Har.

Guess what? We're COOKING SOMETHING this week. Actual food that comes out of an actual pot on the actual stove. WOW. Lasagnas for Valentine's Day. Our longstanding tradition.

Lasagnas Rozale
Our version of these, from Martha Stewart
Serves 2

For the sauce:
8 oz. mushrooms, chopped
2 t. olive oil
2 t. butter
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped
3 oz. lean ground beef
3 oz. ground pork
3 oz. Italian sausage
Salt and pepper
1/2 c. red wine
12 oz. chopped tomatoes (boxed or canned)
2 c. chicken stock
1/4 t. nutmeg

For the bechamel sauce:
2 T. butter
2 T. flour
1 c. plus 3 tablespoons milk
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. nutmeg

Other ingredients:
6 lasagna noodles
10 oz. frozen spinach, thawed and drained
3/4 c. freshly grated Parmesan

To make the sauce:
1. In large skillet, heat olive oil and butter over medium-low heat. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until they are soft and have let off their liquid, about 5 minutes. Add carrot, celery, onion, and garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are translucent, 3 to 4 more minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in separate skillet, break up and brown all meats over high heat, stirring occasionally, about 4 minutes. Add 1/2 t. salt and 1/8 t. pepper. Drain off fat and add meats to skillet containing vegetables; mix everything together. Add wine and cook until liquid has evaporated, about 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, stock, and nutmeg. Lower heat to medium low and slowly simmer, stirring occasionally, about 35 minutes. Much of the liquid will evaporate but sauce will remain very moist. It can be made 2 days in advance and stored in refrigerator. You will have extra sauce after lasagnas are assembled to use over pasta, etc., for lunch the next day, too.

To make the bechamel:
1. In a saucepan, melt 2 T. butter over medium-low heat. Add flour and cook, stirring frequently, 5 to 6 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, bring milk and salt to a boil. Slowly whisk the milk into the flour mixture until completely incorporated and smooth. Add the nutmeg and reduce heat to low; simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat.

To assemble the lasagna:
1. Boil lasagna noodles in large pot of salted water until about a minute before you normally like them to come out. Drain and rinse with cold water, then cut (shorten) to fit two 12-ounce individual ovenproof casserole dishes.
2. Heat a medium skillet over medium-high heat; add spinach and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until wilted and tender. Remove from heat and drain in a colander. Set aside.
3. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Spread 5 T. meat sauce into each of the casserole dishes. Cover with 1 lasagna noodle and spread 5 T. meat sauce evenly over. Spread 2 T. bechamel over the meat sauce and evenly distribute 2 T. chopped spinach over the bechamel. Sprinkle with Parmesan and cover with 1 lasagna noodle. Repeat layering process. Spread 1 heaping tablespoon of Parmesan and dot with butter.
4. Bake until tops of lasagnas are golden and juices are bubbling, about 20 to 25 minutes. If the tops are not yet brown, increase heat to broil and place lasagnas under broiler until tops are speckled brown. Let stand 10 minutes; serve with red wine, simple salad, crusty bread, fancy deserts, and lots of love. Xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Sick Days comments: 126

Blug. I got sick. Coughing, sneezing, headache, eyeball-ache. Been laying low. How Amelia has not gotten this when both Andy and I had it (one after the other) I know not. I've been washing my hands fifty times a day, but still. Poor dear! I think she thinks that coughing is just how people normally talk to each other, so she's imitating it. Typical conversation:

Me: "Hun [sneezing fit], can you bring me the [coughing, hacking coughing, disgusting sounds, throat            clearing, sneeze, sneeze, nose blowing] blanket?"

Amelia: "Goo goo, gah, fake cough, fake cough, goooooo [bright smile]."

Andy: "Sure [sneeze]."

Me: "Wonderful."

Dear lovies.

I seem to be rounding third on the sick. I feel a lot better today. I made the soup that my mom always used to make us when we were sick — the Lipton's chicken-noodle. Always makes you feel better. Maybe we'll make some real stuff this weekend? That sounds really good!

The construction has been delayed by a week [fake crying]. The doors and drawers were all scratched and dinged because they were wrapped for delivery before the paint was fully cured (note use of passive voice in attempt to not assign blame). But, agh. All had to be returned to paint shop for re-sanding/re-painting. We were only a half-day away from being completely finished when this was discovered, too [real crying]. Oh well. Better to do it right.

I'll be happy when it's finished so that I can put everything away. Right now boxes of things that belong in the guest room are still all over the house. We have bunny kit stuff coming in, as well. Naturally, then, I started a new quilt for Amelia!

I decided, with the books, to only read one at a time. First one, recommended by tons of you, Where'd You Go, Bernadette? It's absolutely exactly what I wanted. I'm flying through it! Thank you!

Morning Muffin comments: 189

Egads, *THANK YOU* for all of the book suggestions! Thank you thank you. That is seriously exciting. I have read a lot of the ones that you suggested (you know me well!), but there were a ton of them I have never heard of that sound awesome. This is thrilling! Thank you!

Were fighting colds here. Blaaaaaah. I've lost my voice and am speaking in whispercroak. Lots of hot tea, hot and sour take-out soup, more blueberry streusel muffins, a hot bath for me. I'm really enjoying these muffins in the morning, I must say. I think this muffinmaking will be my "thing." Like how some people are good at sports and some people are funny and some people have great hair? I'm going to always have muffins in the house. Yeah.

Construction on the window seat is almost finished. It is gorgeous but I won't deny that it's been a loooooong couple of weeks with people coming and going and saws whirring and things banging and the front door opening and closing and people clomping up and down stairs and the dear, poor puppers patrolling (and barking) throughout the day. Doors and drawers go on and in on Monday and then, hallelujah, some quiet. Yes, please. Ready. Then I can obsess about the pillow for the window seat, and the wallpaper (some more).

Miss Amelia P. takes it all in stride and wakes up every morning with the biggest, brightest, most beautiful smile you can imagine. Always happy. Made of sunshine, this girl. Dearest darling! Lights my world. Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Bright Frost comments: 490

It's been cold again this week. Between that and remodeling people here it hasn't been easy to get outside but I'm so anxious for a walk in the woods I can't even tell you. I can't wait! Though I am loving the sun we've been having. I showed it to Amelia the other day from the back door and she flinched and scowled at it, thoroughly appalled! Like, "Ack, what is that??!" True Oregonian!!!

I think I mentioned that I was reading The Palace of the Snow Queen. I like it a lot but it is not light reading, really. Do you have any recommendations for easy, fun, fast reading? I think my choices last summer (spy and pretty heavy mystery novels) were a little too dark. I didn't really make it through anything. I'm looking for something — novels, I think, or maybe even travel non-fiction — that is lighter and funnier and just . . . relaxing and fun to read?

***Forgot — here is the Summer Reading Booklist for kids we (you and I) made a few years ago. The link was broken in the original post — sorry about that!

Ah, remodeling. comments: 187

Oh, it's loud. And messy. It will be worth it, I know. But right now the house is a total mess. Because everything that was in the guest room is now in the other rooms. And the other rooms were full (at least, they were as full as I like them to be). Now they're fuller. One more week and it will be done. It's looking good. I know we'll be happy. But I won't deny that I will be THRILLED when it's finished, in part just because it's finished!

I baked muffins and then froze a bunch of them for my breakfasts. It's amazing that the thawed muffins taste pretty much every bit as good as they did the first day. These are blueberry streusel muffins. They are delicious. Yum. Saved me this week, seriously. They and my little milk frother thing, for tea lattes. I've been quite happily fed.

So many bunnerses! I love them. Possibly more than anything I've ever made. Yes, we will be doing kits! Almost everything is ordered and on its way. I'm hoping the kits will be finished a couple of weeks before Easter, but Easter falls on March 31 this year. That's early. So I can't promise, but we'll definitely try. The bunners above is not wearing Liberty, but the kits will have Liberty. We're thinking you'll have ten different dress fabrics to choose from! Because I couldn't possibly have picked just one. You know how bunnerses multiply. (And yes, there will be yarn included for the capelet, and the felt and pattern for boots, etc.) I'll keep you posted, and thank you so much for your enthusiasm! That made me very, very happy. Thank you.

I love all my little girls, furry and non-furry, so.

Cold. Snap! comments: 203

Cold! I like it! It feels like winter! There was black bean soup, lasagnas, hot tea and cinnamon rolls, Andy-made risotto, and cupcakes. There was a crackling fire in the fireplace most days, and glowing sunsets, and scarves and gloves, and I took one of my favorite pictures ever of Mt. Hood from the side of Mt. Tabor late Friday afternoon. Our amazing baby girl is three months old. She is such an incredible joy. Her personality is coming through more every day. She is very laid back (almost never cries), very cuddly, "talking" up a storm, smiling all the time, trying to figure out how to laugh (it comes out like a fake cough — so adorable), chewing on her hand, making us laugh with her funny faces and noises throughout the day, still sleeping throughout the night. Oh, girl. I love you so.

Bunnies, bunnies, bunnies. I have been sewing bunnies and bunny dresses and bunny boots. I have been tweaking my bunny pattern — changing things by millimeters, trying to get the bunny I want (you'd be surprised at how much very small changes in the pattern entirely change the personality of the bunny). I'm about to start Bunners #4 and I think I've almost got her to my liking. I have been having lots of conversations with Andy and Greta about making bunny kits (and a pattern). To that end, I've been sourcing materials and planning assembly and wondering how much time it will take us to wind a thousand tiny skeins of sport-weight wool yarn for bunny capelets. I've decided that the bunnies should be wearing Liberty peasant dresses. Obviously bunnies would wear Liberty peasant dresses! That only makes sense. More on the bunnies later. Slightly obsessed with the bunnies.

Tomorrow the construction starts on the upstairs cabinets. That will be loud and messy for a week. I'm excited about it but I can't wait until it's finished. I have looked at about five hundred rolls of vintage wallpaper (here and here and here) trying to pick out wallpaper for one wall of the bedroom. I like about a hundred of them. How do you choose, seriously. I don't know. They're quite amazing.

I saw Silver Linings Playbook over the weekend and I LOVED it so much. New favorite movie.

Wonderful Day comments: 241

Such a nice birthday! The weather was absolutely balmy. We went for a long walk around the neighborhood. I tried to make a cake just like this one, but I used  Cloudburst Frosting instead of the two frostings she recommended, and I think hers was much prettier! It tasted great, though. Andy made dinner for me. My mom and sister came for the morning. I got lots of lovely messages and cards and presents (though I can't imagine any better present than Amelia). Thank you for all of your kind wishes!!! It was a wonderful day.

I'm very tired! We had some construction here last week and through most of the weekend. All of the carpet came out of the stairwell and the upstairs landing and the guest room (which will be Amelia's room when she moves out of her nursery). Under the carpet was beautiful hardwood flooring that had been covered for many years. The contractor (Jozo of Euro Masonry) installed all of this gorgeous wainscoting through the stairwell, as well as trim around the stairs. It was a lot of work but he did an amazing job. I love it so much. Everything still needs to be painted (this white that you see is just the primer), and the stair risers need primer and paint. But it feels like this is how the stairwell was truly meant to be, and that feels really good. I love doing good things for this old house. Construction starts next week on the wall of built-ins and the window seat for Amelia's room. I'm really excited about it. I'll take more photos of the hallway once it's painted properly. The light in the house is incredibly dark — the skies are dark, the clouds are dark, the days feel quite dim from morning until night. I have so many little lamps and electric candles on throughout the day, from early morning until we go up at night. Ah, winter.

*Her bonnet is Little Heaume on Ravelry. I need to make an entry for that — sorry! Here is my link!