small hands

A five day weekend could be habit forming. Lots of sleeping, sewing, and then enough energy to organize my closet.

It was great to be cooking on Wednesday, really in the flow, with great equipment. Jacques Pepin says that his best tool is his hands and there is a lot to be said for that, but sharp knives, a Cuisinart food processor, a Kitchen Aid mixer, and All Clad pots are also quite good.

I watched the entire first season of The Tudors. As a fool for period costume dramas, it certainly fits the bill.

Now comes the hard part–getting through the Christmas season with my sanity intact. Whenever my children express whining and pessimism, I will yell at them like I’m Dora the Explorer "You can do it!"



I have a secret that I’m going to share with you: I found the key to getting through the big day of family togetherness and pressure. Start out the day with yoga. I did an hour of yoga on Thanksgiving morning and I felt centered and strong and relaxed the rest of the day. It’s probably more challenging for people with small kids or some distance to travel, but it’s worth it to make the time. Midway through I heard my children bickering and thought I would have to stop to referee, but I didn’t stop and by the time I was done, they were laughing together. Occasionally my son will see me doing yoga and join in, other times he will whine and call to me to come do something for him, but he understands that it is my time and I’m not going to interrupt it.

On Thanksgiving morning I did not meditate on all the things I am thankful for as I did my yoga (though you can), but I did feel grateful for my [bickering, laughing, healthy] children, for the strength and flexibility to do the poses, to be able to exercise [and function in general] without pain.

Thanksgiving week is also the traditional time for California Bar exam results to come out. I still look at the exam questions and answers and I still get a thrill, 16 years later, at the privilege of having passed.

The children have school today, but I have Veteran's Day off. Beautiful. A tuna sandwich on whole wheat and Earl Gray tea for lunch, lots of lots of sewing and pinning.

I should organize my closet and I plan to make a pretty elaborate dinner, but I'm going to enjoy this day.

Thank you for the kind comments on my quilt. I really appreciate them.

This quilt surprised me. It came out better and I like it more than I expected.

I couldn't figure out how to quilt it and I didn't want to do free motion quilting like I did on the blue One Patch.



I decided to quilt along the checkerboard pattern and then diagonally along the white blocks.



I used brown Denyse Schmidt Flea Market fancy for the binding:



This is definitely a Use What You Have and a Finish What You Have quilt . It was fun to complete.

Halloween was a big success for the three of us. We went to my girl's school friend's house so that the kids could trick or treat with a group of friends. The mom is a wonderful cook and she made a lovely clam chowder and a caesar salad to die for. While the kids went out with the mom, I sat in front of the roaring fire in the fireplace, talking to some other [very nice] parents.

The kids were satisfied when we drove home, though they were tempted to talk about next year's costumes. I squashed that, because 365 days of planning is too much.

Halloweeen is a high pressure holiday. My kids care way more about it than Thanksgiving or Christmas really. So I'm glad it went well.

I slept very badly last night; from 11 to 3. That's not enough sleep. In the last few days, I've been excited about getting up and making a pot of coffee and finishing up my quilt. So I haven't been sleeping much.

I finished it.





This quilt is made with Squares and Strips block from this book. I used Martha Negley dahlia and vegetable fabrics, Kaffe Fassett Glassworks fabric, green and purple tamari balls Japanese fabrics.

I free motion quilted the colored fabrics and quilted straight lines on the white fabric. I used a variety of the colored fabrics for the binding.

I am very pleased to use the fabric from my stash, though the green and purple is a little teenager-y. The real problem is that I find the quilt visually confusing. I can't quite wrap my aesthetic mind around it.



It makes more visual sense when it's on my bed:



Oop! Gotta get to court.