I was able to knit both of these items with one hank of Sierra (something I had in my stash that had originally been bought for a dress for Josephine.  It gives me a good feeling to think of Josephine sharing this yarn with her brother).  I did make the hat a bit smaller than the pattern called for (0-3 months) because I wanted it to fit right out of the womb and both my kids had smallish heads.  Were it not for the alterations, I would not have had enough yarn. 

I really can't get enough of this Pebble Vest!

I don't see myself actually making most of the projects from the book, but I was inspired by the major concept of the book.  Many of the patchwork projects are sort of quilt-as-you-go. Those that call for foundation piecing are pieced right on the batting which acts as the foundation.  This technique does create some drawbacks -- the most obvious one became apparent after just a bit of sewing -- the fuzz build-up in the machine after just a bit of sewing directly on the batting was incredible.  I stopped a couple of times during the sewing process just to clean out my machine.  If using this technique for a quilt, one would still then have to quilt all the layers together.

I was very pleased to be able to use mainly fabrics that I had on hand.  The whole project was designed around the giraffe print which is a fabric from an old pillow case from Ed's childhood. The white cotton canvas on the back and border was a remnant I inherited from Ed's grandmother. Most of the other pieces were scraps, too.  I like that it turned out with a kind of retro-seventies look about it.  It would be a great project for a beginner who was trying to get lots of practice making straight lines using the edge of the presser foot as a guide.  It did get tedious, but I also tried to do that step all in one evening.

I made these cards a few weeks ago.  The featured fabric in the middle of each is from fabric I bought about 15 years ago at a quilt festival.  The fabric had a beautiful batik-like look about it, but I'm really not into batiks, so it has taken me a while to figure out how to use it.  On the whole, I like the way they turned out.  Definitely, I would recommend using a walking foot!  I have seen these these sorts of cards a lot lately and was really inspired to try it when I bought this book by Denise Schmidt:

As a quilt designer, I think she is doing some lovely things.  Her recommendations on color and use of solids vs. patterned fabric are right on, as far as I am concerned.  You can see her quilted cards on the cover (bottom right corner).  My first attempts looked more like hers, but I didn't like them very much.  The ones you see at the top are my second attempt.

Handmade Home is just full of projects I can't wait to make.  The author,  Amanda Soule, also has a wonderful blog called soulemama and another book The Creative Family that I don't own yet.  I can't wait to tackle the braided rug she shows in Handmade Home:And I fell in love with the "Mama's Bag" the first time I saw it.

Her instructions for the bag are very clearly written.  A beginner could certainly follow them with no problem.  The things I changed were minor.  I added an extra inner layer of flannel to give the purse more body.  I made the bag slightly wider and added about 4 inches in depth.  I also made two simple inner pockets to the lining on the inside seen here:

The author's approach to sewing with scraps and repurposed textiles really appeals to me.  It is something I enjoy doing myself, and the way she uses these items in her projects is really inspiring. For my own bag, I set a goal of not buying any additional materials to complete this project.  While I had already bought the outer main fabric, I limited myself to other fabric, thread, scraps etc. that I already had for the lining and straps and other things needed to complete the project.  I couldn't be more pleased with the results.

1 large eggplant, chopped

2 zucchini, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

1 package mushrooms, chopped

1 green, pepper, chopped

1 large onion, chopped

2 tablespoons parsley, chopped

1/3 cup plus 4 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons wine vinegar

2 tablespoons course salt, if table salt use 1 tablespoon (I know this seems like a lot, but trust me on this)

hot sauce to taste, I use Louisiana Crystal

3/4 teaspoon black pepper

5-6 medium to large tomatoes, sliced

2/3 cup uncooked rice

1/2 cup water

grated Monterey Jack cheese

Lightly oil 2 large 3-quart casserole dishes.  In a large bowl (I use a stock pot for lots of room to mix), combine eggplant, zucchini, carrots, onions, peppers, mushrooms, and parsley.  Season with 1/3 cup olive oil, salt, hot sauce, black pepper, and vinegar and mix well.  Using half the tomatoes, line the bottom of both casserole dishes with tomatoes.  Pour 1/2 the vegetable mixture between the two casseroles.  Sprinkle in 1/3 cup rice in each casserole, layer remaining vegetable mixture and layer the remaining tomatoes on top.  Drizzle a couple of tablespoons of olive oil over each casserole, then pour 1/4 cup water in each. Bake covered in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  Remove lid and cover the top with cheese and place back in oven to melt.  If you plan on freezing one casserole, don't add the cheese -- just cool and place in the freezer until you plan to use it.

Of course, there is a lot of flexibility with this recipe -- you can add and take away vegetables as you like.  Sometimes I add potatoes, but usually not.  It is about ten million degrees when it come out of the oven, so I make it well in advance of dinner to give it time to cool a bit.

In the days before Josephine died Rudy, quite out of the blue, told us that after Josephine becomes an angel, we must look for her when we see a rainbow -- a strange idea for one so small to come up with on his own, but one of those precious moments of wisdom in a child.  Since then I have held onto these rainbow sightings -- the first on her birthday, then next on Mother's Day, a few others -- often at particularly difficult moments.  But a rainbow today?  Isn't there a season for rainbows?  Certainly this is not now.  And besides, there had been no rain, in fact it had been sunny all morning with so sign of rain coming on.  But Rudy was right -- here on this bright October morning I looked up and there it was --  this little sliver of a rainbow right over our house.  It stayed for about 20 minutes and then was gone.

This birdhouse gourd jack-o-lantern project has been a long time in the making.  It started last summer (2008) when we planted a birdhouse gourd vine in our garden.  We got the plant into the garden too late in the season to get any gourds large enough to make into birdhouses, but we saved them and dried them in the garage for more than a year for whatever project they might inspire down the road.

I was just waiting for the Halloween season to arrive in order to see if my idea would work.  The gourds, when dried, looked like this:The discoloration and mold is normal.  The preparation for painting was a bit more labor intensive than I had planned on -- it required soaking and scrubbing the outer waxy layer off with a heavy duty scouring pad and a lot of "elbow grease".  Rudy was not able to help me with this step, which was a disappointment for me.

Rudy was, however, able to help a lot with the layers of orange paint and the faces.  After the last orange coat had dried, I drew the outlines of faces in black Sharpie marker and Rudy and I then filled them in with a couple of coats of black paint.  It was harder to paint the faces than I had anticipated and I was surprised to find that I wasn't much better at it than Rudy was.

We then sprayed them with a glossy indoor/outdoor sealer.  Lastly, we added some string and some wire to attach them and so now have a really cute jack-o-lantern garland for our front porch.

Here are Rudy's new flannel pajamas for the fall.  I used the same pattern as his spring pajamas seen here.  You can see that I embelished them a bit from the spring version and even more from the original pattern from New Look seen here. When I was originally looking for pajama patterns last spring I was very annoyed at the scarcity of kids' pajama patterns out there.  This particular one was the best I could do.  When I got it home, I realized it was a great starting point and I could add my own touch simply because it was so simple.

The original pattern did not call for the front facing lining on the button placket nor did it call for the contrast trim, but I think it really adds a lot and really makes the project special.  It is difficult to see in this picture, but I also added bias cut cuffs and trim to the sleeves.  This would have been super for the pants cuffs, too, but I didn't have enough fabric. 

It was a very good lesson for me on how sometimes the simplest patterns are the best because they give you such a basic framework that they allow you to embellish things and make them your own.

And yes, I do plan to sew two more buttons to the cowboy set when the local chain fabric store restocks their shelves (urgh!).

No, the overwhelming emotion is a deep and humbling gratitude.  I would have accepted any outcome and I was ready, but I am so thankful it is as it is. There now seems to be a pathway of hope into the future where we can make a dream again.  I wish Josephine were here to share in the joy, but I know she is somewhere looking down on us and smiling.