delight in life

in progress

I wanted to share a couple of progress shots of some projects. I always enjoy seeing these on other blogs and on Instagram, but I never remember to take them myself. Trying to get better about that! Above is my first real try at an improvisational quilt. I'm still playing aroud with block arrangements, but I am really happy with this one so far. 

Below is a custom quilt I am working on. It is going to be queen-sized. I haven't made a quilt this big since my very first one. (Luckily I'm a lot better at quilting now!) 

As a side note, I created a page with all the quilts I've written about on the blog. (Which is all of them I've made, except just one or two.) You can see it here, and it's linked in my hello blurb on the top right. Each photo and title links to the corresponding post about the quilt. I wish I had some of those back to take better photos!

tiny harvests

I've been able to pick a few fruits from my plants already, and let me tell you it is the best feeling! This beautiful strawberry was actually already on the plant when I bought it, in the form of a tiny fruit bud, so I got to watch it grow and grow. It was early, and now more and more of its brothers are showing up on the plant. The first one tasted great; I am very excited about the impending strawberry bounty!

And here are my very first tomatoes! The plant is laden down with clusters of green tomatoes right now, and I have been checking every day waiting for a hint of red. Yesterday I noticed a couple yellow fruits way in the back, so I double-checked the tag, and surprise! It's a yellow tomato plant! (Specifically, the Sweet'n'Neat tomato plant. A tiny little thing, but bears tons of fruit! No staking required! I am a fan!)

I also clipped a couple sprigs of dill and mint, not so muh because I planned to use them, but more in interest of encouraging growth. I laughed as I carried my tiny little harvest inside in one hand. I often see big garden baskets for sale, always with photographs of the basket completely full of eggplants and tomatoes and lettuce leaves and bell peppers. I'm not exactly there yet.

And then Oscar kept trying to grab the herbs for himself! He sat and watched steadily as I took a few pictures, occasionally trying to sneak a paw in to grab them.  

Then I turned my back for five seconds, and the little turd immediately swiped the dill! He chowed down on one clipping and I thought surely he wouldn't like it, but apparently he did because he quickly moved on to the other two.

He also likes cream cheese and biscuits. Cats are weird.

recently

We visisted Mount Vernon (George Washington's estate) recently and I absolutely loved it. The gardens were so amazing. If you come stay with us this summer, prepare to go there!

That last photo is just about my favorite thing ever. Our little family has had lots and lots of outside time lately. This warm spring weather is so great and we are taking advantage of it before it gets too hot and humid to be comfortable!

what a difference a year makes

This time last year I was eight weeks pregnant. Hardly anyone even knew I was pregnant, but the few who did wished me a happy Mother's Day. Someone sent me a sweet card that made me cry—but I also cringed a little. The word "mother" didn't fit. It felt like I was trying on a costume that was too big and too stiff. I didn't feel like a mother; I just felt bloated and so tired I couldn't stand up straight.

But today? My heart overflows with a love I couldn't imagine last year. This chubby, giggly little person—who was the size of a kidney bean a year ago—has made me a mother. And instead of a too-big costume, it fits like my favorite pair of soft, broken-in jeans.

What a year it's been.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas, most especially mine, who remains the Greatest Mom in the World for the 25th year running. Love you mostest, Mom.

backyards and string lights

White string lights, the kind with big round bulbs, have long been a favorite of mine. They were the best detail of my wedding reception, the part that was most perfectly translated from the picture in my brain to real life. This is the picture of my parents' backyard a few weeks before the wedding, the picture that had me practically levitating with excitement:

Last weekend, we got to put them up in our own backyard. As I've mentioned about a million times, our backyard is a long way from good-looking, but these lights make everything so much better. We had a party on Sunday and with the lights up, I wasn't embarrassed about the state of the rest of the yard. I just need a few more years and some careful planning and then maybe ours will look just as rad as my parents'. Maybe.

day in the life

I participated in Ali Edwards' Day in the Life project this month, although I forgot and did it a day late. I tried this once last year and wasn't too happy with the results, but this time I loved it. I took all the photos with my phone, edited with PicTapGo, and posted everything on Instagram as I went. This will go into my Project Life book, though I'm not sure yet exactly how I'll fit it in.

7:13 am: wake up. Joey was sleeping through the night but last week went back to waking up three times a night, so I'm struggling a little.

8:16 am: doing the morning garden inspection with battlecat

9:14 am: drinking chai, straightening my sewing room. enjoying nap time.

0:04 am: THIS FACE. I can't even. Happily hanging out on my bed while I get dressed.

10:28 am: we went to the park but all the swings were were full so we're headed on to Starbucks :) 

11:47 am: bed made. ish.

12:03 pm: hanging out in the yard while Chris whacks some weeds.

12:51 pm: trimmed my overgrown mint plant last night, drinking mint water today.

2:43 pm: late lunch

3:47 pm: family photo at Alexandria city hall

4:31 pm: browsing shops in old town with our out-of-town guests

5:04 pm: on the waterfront

5:26 pm: browsing my favorite fancy spice shop

6:02 pm: grateful for clear skies and warm weather

6:34 pm: jotting down some notes in my garden journal

7:46 pm: bedtime

8:09 pm: squeezing some garden time out of my last few minutes of daylight

9:16 pm: night.

adventures in paper piecing

When I made my star quilt a few weeks ago, I used the Orion quilt pattern, but I left out the most interesting part of the pattern—the arrows. They are really cool, but they are pieced using foundation paper piecing, and I didn't know how to do that. I didn't even really know what it is, although now I can tell you it's a way to easily piece quilt blocks with very precise seams and corners. I've seen some really beautiful blocks made using this technique, particularly During Quiet Time's garden blocks, but it seemed very difficult and fussy to me.

But. I really liked those arrows, so one night I decided to give it a try. As with all new things, it started with a google search for tutorials. There are a ton, but I ended up making this Starry Night block from Fresh Lemons Quilts as a learning sample. I was really confused as I read the tutorial, but I was able to muddle through it once I actually started piecing. After I finished that, I felt pretty good about the basics, so I pulled out some scraps and went to work on the arrow.

(Sorry about the crappy phone photo...)

Not too bad! My biggest problem is sloppy piecing on the center section, which is of course the only portion that is not paper pieced. It was a lot of work, but I think a handful of these blocks would make a really cool quilt.

around the yard

Every night after Joey goes to sleep there's about 30 minutes of good outside light left, and lately I've been spending those 30 minutes in my yard. Armed with my shears, a pair of gloves, and a pretty clippings bin, I'm slowly tackling nearly a year of neglect and overgrowth.

I'm cutting back dead things, trimming up overgrown alive things, and pulling up endless weeds. It is fun.

I'm marveling at the surprises popping out of the ground constantly. I hardly know what anything is, but luckily I've got practically an army of experienced plant identifiers in my family, so I'm slowly learning, one text message at a time.

There's so much to do before this yard starts to look even vaguely impressive, which some days is really overwhelming to me. But during those thirty minutes every evening, I'm only excited and inspired. When I'm out there, I'm forced to focus on only one small section of the yard at a time, and making that spot look gorgeous feels totally doable.

Going around the yard with my camera and looking for the pretty bits that are already here helps, too.

(ps: that gorgeous, humongous azalea in the first picture? my neighbor's. so not mine. but I'm so happy to share the view with her!)

ships ahoy

Another square in square quilt, but this one is set on point, which makes for a much more interesting design, I think. These little fussy cut ships were the inspiration for this quilt. I thought they were super cute and I wanted to feature them somehow.

This was a perfect excuse to use the anchor fabric, which I've been hoarding for a while. This quilt finished at around 32x32. Still small, but big enough to work as a crib quilt. Now that the weather is so nice, I've been keeping a similarly-sized quilt in our stroller basket for impromptu grass sitting!

I think the helm print on the back is so cute. I purchased it intending to only use it on the back but I couldn't resist adding it to the front as well.

This cute quilt was for sale, but someone bought it! Color me totally excited.

a private concert