I just can’t seem to make enough socks.  And, yes, I knit while getting pedicures.  Here’s my latest, in progress…

OnLine Supersocke Afrika sock yarn

So, here it is.  Our first quilt.  The one my daughter and I cut and sewed and arranged and sewed again together.  This one I had machine quilted, with somewhat less than ideal results.  But it’s still beautiful, and it will keep my little girl warm and happy when it’s chilly.  I tell Kate there’s so much love sewed in here she’s sure to be cozy, and she looks up at me with her most earnest face and tells me she can feel it.  That’s so cool.

Quilt pattern from Free Spirit Fabric. Fabrics from Bee Square Fabrics and Purl Patchwork.

It seems that every child of a crafty parent has a birthday banner. Well, everyone but Kate. So for this year’s grand Fifth Year Celebration, I made this happy fabric banner with some of our favorite fabrics. It was easy, fun and gratifying, and definitely one of my favorite projects.

If you’d like to create your own, here’s what you’ll need:

* Cheerful lightweight cotton fabrics. In my opinion, nothing says “Happy Birthday” like polka-dots.  (Sorry, I didn’t pay attention to yardage, but the sides of each fabric triangle will be 10″, and you’ll need to cut 30 triangles.)

* Double-face fusible interfacing so you can fuse the fabric letters directly to the fabric flags.

* Bias tape, which you can purchase or make yourself. This was my first time making bias tape, and now I don’t know why I waited so long. I recommend Clover’s little bias tape maker. You’ll need about 15 and a half feet of bias tape.

* Sewing machine. No need for fancy stitches here. I used the straight stitch for sewing the fabric flags together and the zigzag stitch to attach the bias tape to the flags.

* Rotary cutter, cutting mat and clear plastic ruler.

* Iron. Cotton setting, with steam.

* Swedish tracing paper to make templates. Although this isn’t essential, it’s very handy to have around.

Making the banner…

Step One. Choose fabrics for the flags and the letters.  I chose polka-dots and flowers for the flags and a black daisy print for the letters.

Step Two. Use the triangle located in the center of your cutting mat to trace and cut the flag template from Swedish tracing paper.

Step Three. Cut fabric triangles from template.  You’ll need 15 double-sided flags for “Happy Birthday!”, which means cutting 30 fabric triangles. This is where your rotary cutter, ruler and mat really come in handy. You can cut multiple layers (4-6) of each fabric to save time.

Step Four. Spell “Happy Birthday!” in your word processing program and print and cut letter templates.  I used Arial Black (font size 350) and printed them in landscape mode.

Step Five. Place the letters face-up on the right-side of your fabric and trace around them carefully with pencil. If the fabric is dark, you can flip the fabric over and trace on the wrong side of the fabric.  (If you do this, make sure you also flip the letters upside down before tracing!)  Following the manufacturer’s instructions for the interfacing you’re using, fuse letters onto double-sided interfacing and then cut each out with small scissors.  This is the most time-consuming part.

Step Six. Fuse letters onto fabric triangles. Before fusing the letters, it’s a good idea to lay your triangles on the floor and arrange them in a way that pleases you. Once the letters are fused to the triangles, there’s no turning back (unless you’re willing to cut new pieces).

Step Seven. The next step is sewing one letter triangle and one plain fabric triangle together. With right sides together and with edges aligned, sew a one-quarter-inch seam around the long edges of each triangle (nice to have a 1/4″ presser foot, isn’t it?). Begin on a long side of the triangle, and make sure you pivot at each corner for a very neat and tidy point. The top edge of each triangle will remain open–this is where you’ll attach the bias tape.  Turn each flag inside out and press carefully.  (Note:  you may also wish to trim the excess fabric around each point before turning to make a tidier point.)  Oh, and here’s where I got all caught up with sewing and completely forgot about snapping photos….  Oops.

Step Eight. Following the manufacturer’s instructions, make your bias tape.

Step Nine. Beginning about 25 inches in, open up the bias tape and begin sewing the flags to one side of the tape. To understand how to attach bias tape, you might find Angry Chicken’s no swear bias tape method helpful.  Although I can swear like a sailor, I didn’t find it necessary at all.  Place the triangles close together, following one right after another.

Step Ten. Fold bias tape over and pin the edges of the bias tape together neatly. Now stitch the two edges of the tape together using a zigzag stitch, removing pins as you go along.  To continue your avoidance of swearing, make sure you tuck the raw edges in at the ends before you begin stitching.

Spread out your fantastic birthday banner and congratulate yourself on such a great job.  And, hey, happy birthday!

Kate loves, loves, loves picking flowers. So do I.

We had a beautiful time in the country this past weekend, filled with running around in grassy meadows and picking flowers (and weeds), visiting with grandma and grandpa, uncles and aunties and a favorite cousin, and eating takeout dinners from the volunteer fire company chicken barbeque.

We also spent time at my childhood home again.  After years of stop-and-start renovations, it is finally habitable, and it was comforting to stand on the porch at night and see the stars overhead and to awaken with the sun streaming into our bedroom window and the birds singing wildly.

It was also our seventh anniversary, and although we always seem to be in the car driving back from somewhere, it is still a special day.  I cannot imagine life without this amazing man and this little child.

Grandpa dug up a bunch of these so we could plant them around our NYC trees.

Though the time passed quickly, as good times always do, we did manage to relax and unwind a bit and enjoy some simple things.

Kate, Tyler and Jack explore the meadow.

This is the kind of smile I get when I say "Stinky Pants" to Kate as I'm snapping her picture.

Isn't this strange and gorgeous?

Today I took a long stroll up Broadway to Fishs Eddy for some sturdy new dishes.  As I hit the checkout counter, I saw these out of the corner of my eye and laughed out loud:

Oh, yes, it’s all our favorite statesmen and women, both past and present.

In the Republican camp:
George Bush, Newt Gingrich, John Ashcroft, Joseph McCarthy, Herbert Hoover, Richard Nixon, Trent Lott, George W. Bush, Strom Thurmond, Spiro Agnew and Tom Delay

And for the Democrats:
Harry Truman, Jesse Jackson, Al Gore, Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt, Robert Kennedy and John F. Kennedy

Of course I succumbed to the impulse purchase.  How could I not serve my darling husband a steaming cup o’ Joe in one of these?

I’ve been in withdrawal.  With Kate’s birthday celebration, meetings and class trips last week, there was no time or energy for crafting.  So last night while catching up on “The Office,” I finished sewing this little dress.  The pale pink fabric is Alexander Henry’s “Starling”; ribbon is from The Ribbon Jar.  Dress pattern from Heather Ross’s Weekend Sewing (with some minor modifications).  Simple, comfortable, and Kate loves it.  Who knew sewing with elastic thread was so freaking easy?

It’s Kate’s birthday today.  On Mothers’ Day five years ago, after eight hours of intense, drug-free labor, I pushed out this red-faced, shrieking, gorgeous baby girl.  She’s been my best pal ever since.  Today we are celebrating the birth of this beautiful child with party games and prizes, balloons and birthday cake.

Happy Birthday, pal, and many more.  May your life be wonderful, and full of sweet surprises and lots and lots of love.

Today I am digging this…

It’s my dining table, devoid of scraps of paper, drawings, weeks-old mail, fabric, quilting paraphernalia, sewing machines, cameras, books and toys.  I seldom see the surface of my own table, and because it’s often loaded down with things, it is seldom used for dining.  Today I am enjoying this clear, unburdened space.

In a moment of insanity, Rob declared that Kate should have a homemade piñata on her birthday.  Sure, who doesn’t like to eat a bunch of sugar and whack at something with a big stick on their natal day?

Painting by Phil Krohn

The other night while Rob and I were on a little date, Kate and her sitter began the arduous task of covering a large, orange balloon in pieces of goo-covered newspaper.

I asked Kate about her process, and here’s what she said:

“You make glue and then you put some newspaper on the balloon, and first you have to blow up the balloon, and then put the newspaper onto the balloon.  And it’s kinda fun to do it, but I haven’t done the rest yet, and you have to do it four more times.  Now I’m done.  Well, I’m not done yet, because I haven’t finished it yet, so I will do it and maybe I will write it down again.”

Needless to say, we’re pretty excited about filling this large globe with little Japanese erasers shaped like cakes and ice cream cones, plastic gemstone rings, monster finger puppets, temporary tattoos and gummy candies and taking a whack at it ourselves.

I have always loved plane trips–having hours of time with nothing at all to do except knit, read and gaze outside.  But everything changed with the arrival of our daughter.  The first few years of travel were all about caring for a small child and attempting to keep her happy and entertained (truly, I’m not complaining).  Now that Kate’s almost five, however, she’s content to draw and color for hours at a time, while I’m free to knit again.  It’s cozy and lovely, and such a great way to pass the time until we arrive at our destination.

During our last trip to San Francisco, I finished these Misti Alpaca baby cable socks, just in time for spring in New York (hah!).  This shade of green ignites my brain, and they’re soft and warm, too.

Baby cable socks in Misti Alpaca

Socks are relatively easy to make, and very, very satisfying.  If you’re planning to make simple handknit socks, Charlene Schurch gives the best instructions.  Her book Sensational Knitted Socks is the only one you’ll need (that is, until you get a hankering for trickier patterns like argyles).

On these cool and damp spring days here, you can be sure I’ll be wearing these inside my wellies….