Not long ago I had the chance to savor this book.

It reminded me a lot of the way I grew up, my Mom’s cooking and the slower pace of life from Europe. Molly talks about her parents cooking and daily gatherings in the kitchen preparing meals from scratch and enjoying each other’s company sifting through the day’s events. I liked that a lot.

It also reminded me of simple breakfasts like toast with plum butter and tea, cold cuts with cheese and vegetables for a more elaborate spread and my Dad’s omelettes on Sunday mornings. I had to laugh at Molly’s confession of secretly longing for a bowl of cereal as her “parents kept a tight lid of processed foods” because I didn’t even know what cereal was at the time since our grocery stores had basic things like bread, milk, sugar, butter, rice, etc and maybe some preserves. For produce and cheese we went to the (open) market and there you have it.

On a slightly different note I tried some of the recipes. The Roasted Eggplant Ratatouille was fantastic, the Fennel Salad With Asian Pears and Parmesan was surprisingly tasty and the Tomato Soup With Two Fennels was so fresh and bright that the rest of the fam enjoyed too (which says a lot).

I think I will slowly work my way through more dishes as they are easy, quick and quite healthy for the most part. And they’re perfect if you’re stuck in a rut as far as meals go.

That’s exactly what they are…those hand knitted socks. Our church secretary told me that. And you thought church ladies are prude!

I needed some help with this year’s Socktober Fest project and went to the church secretary because she’s a fantastic knitter. She remembered the first time she knitted a pair of socks and the hurdles of the experience but in the end it was all worth it because “they’re like lingerie for your feet” she said.

One thing I will tell you is that I probably won’t be able to knit socks and give them as a gift. The process is quite involved and I will want to keep them for myself in the end. And I think I will use a simpler yarn because the different colors take away from the beauty of the pattern.

Before I go I wanted to say a big thanks to Kirsten of Through The Loops for her awesome job of coming up with a new pattern every year that keeps us in suspense until a new pair of socks warms up our hearts as well as our toes.

Is Jeff. Because he entered. I’ll e-mail you.

This may be your lucky day. I’m entering a giveaway myself. Thought you might like it too. Between the one I’m having and the Block Party I hope you’ll end up with one win.

Cheers!

Yes, indeed. Maybe it’s the sugar from Trick or Treating or the crisp autumn air but whatever the case may be I found this little lovely and I thought ‘How appropriate!’.

It’s an Italian made purse with handmade embellishments, very coquette and it may come in handy (pun intended) for the holiday parties which are just around the corner.

If you’d like to enter, please leave me comment telling me one thing you like about fall. I’ll keep comments open until Thursday November 5th and announce a winner on Friday morning.

Happy November to you!

On the quilting front things have definitely slowed down. Sitting for long at the sewing machine doesn’t do me good but short spurts are wonderful.

The Cottage Quilting Bee is still on and I’m playing catchup so I’ve got lots of blocks to share really quickly. This one’s for our great hostess Tina who loves Gee’s Bend Quilts.

Then I have one for Laura who is making a quilt with lots of houses. They are so cute…

And this last one if for Rachel. This block didn’t turn our perfect and I think it’s because one of the white diagonal strips was not at a perfect 45 degree angle hence they didn’t all meet right on the dot. It was fun to make though. My hub hub loves this block.

Well, these are all the tricks I have for now. Hope your week goes great!

Mancub turned  2!

So I put on an apron and started baking a birthday cake-white with bittersweet chocolate frosting. I can always get away with bittersweet chocolate this way…the kids won’t eat it by itself but I can add it to frostings…for now.

I felt very feminine and content stirring that batter and although I was not the most attractive thing on the planet with my round belly sticking out I felt like I belonged. It was the strangest thing…I can’t explain it but it felt good and really peaceful.

But this post should be about the birthday boy, so…As he turns 2 Mancub is surprising us so much!!! He can recognize 80% of the capital letters, sound out a few, recognizes some numbers and can sing the alphabet. The boy has paid attention to his older brother’s homework and it paid off. It’s interesting because he started looking at books only about 2 weeks ago! And believe me, we’ve been trying for much longer than that.

Let’s see-his eating habits are not the best. He likes carbs, meat, some dairy, one pot meals and is a huge snacker but won’t touch or even hold a fruit or a vegetable. Except for when he’s trying to experience texture – then he’ll touch the fruits to his cheek. (We’re sure to wash our apples and pears well). Mancub, you are something else! You are charming and sweet and let everyone know when you don’t like something. You brow frowns at the slightest inconvenience. I can truly say that you wear your heart on your sleeve. You are also becoming more affectionate which is really, really nice.

We love you little man!

Love,

Mama

I’ve been under the radar for a while now and I didn’t plan for it but I’ve had a lot on my mind and on my heart. Things like selling a house, moving in with family temporarily, buying a new house, settling in (ha!) and finding out that we will have another baby. I’d say all that excitement is enough to last a whole year but no, this was just my summer. Whew!

Mr. A started school this year and he likes it. I even thinks he misses it during week-ends. Everyone else seems to be doing fine. It’s taking me a while to adjust but I thought it would be a good time to grab the bulls by its horns and just go with it.

October is here and even though fall started already I feel like this month is the hallmark of autumn. Nature is preparing for hibernation but I am reviving this space and planning on showing up more regularly. Hope to see you again soon.

Happy October to you all!

Hmm, coming up with directions when you have a finished project  in mind isn’t the easiest thing…I have a new appreciation for pattern making.

So here is what I’d like to have made for my Cottage Quilting Bee. Imagine a block made out of 2 big triangles (sewn together on a diagonal) which in turn will be made out of horizontal strips of fabric. So that’s what every bee will get in their packages-a bunch of fabric strips.

You can add fabrics from your stash if you’d like just steer away from reds and purples and no embellishments please. Everything else is fair game. Solids (yes please), prints, oranges, yellows, baby blue, greens-you get the gist.

And because I’m so tech savvy (not!) here is how the directions will look like. Let’s start, why don’t we?

You will need 7 fabric strips per triangle.

Measurements:

14.5″x2.5″              12.5″x2.5″          10.5″x2.5″             8.5″x2.5″           6.5″x2.5″                 4.5″x2.5″             2.5″x2.5″.

1.Build your first triangle by sewing the strips in descending order from the bottom up and lining them to the right like in the high tech picture below.

2. Using your rotary cutter cut off the jagged edge at a 45 degree angle like below and you will get half of your block.

3.Now let’s make the other half working the opposite direction OR just do the same thing and flip it upside down. I will just post pictures for clarity’s sake.

Please give a shout out if I missed something or for any issue/question/concern. The block should be around 14″ or 14.5″ not sure with all those darn seam allowances.

This is a block I’ve been working on for my Cottage Bee. The assignment was to make a square that would represent our idea of patchwork. This was a monster block (just my style) measuring 15.5 inches.

Things were chugging along-I even planned it all out, sketched and calculated measurements and I was so proud of myself thinking that I would send John a bunch of scraps from these great fabrics. I always feel good about sending back scraps.

Anyhoo, then I started sewing and low and behold…I miscalculated. The small squares were…well, too small by 1\4 inch. Bugger! By the way, this was the same day I miscalculated fabric baking -by 2 YARDS! I guess I shouldn’t have done any math that day. After I recut  it was all fine. So, voila, Le Patchwork for a quilting Dad!

Happy Father’s Day!