After a good friend of mine saw our puppet theater, she sort of commissioned me to make one for her kids.

By that time, I’d bought the book Oliver + S Little Things to Sew, and wanted to try out the doorway puppet theater project, which is a lot better constructed than my by-the-seat-of-my-pants felt theater.

The project has a very cute fabric house on the front (you can find a picture of it here) and I struggled with the choice of fabric, or whether I should leave it off entirely.  Then I had a flash of brilliance — chalk cloth!  Or perhaps it was not really so brilliant, as it made the theater sort of bulky and hard to sew.  However, I think it also stayed in place better than a fabric “house” would have, making a few less wrinkles in the end.

So anyway, now they have a fully customizable puppet theater/store/restaurant/house/whatever!  And we can’t wait to come over and play!

After I made myself these coasters, I promised my friend Gi I’d make her some, too.  For her birthday.  In 2010.

Well.  First I had a case of fabric-related indecision.  Finally I settled on this idea: coffee & corduroy, a play on the name of her blog.

I am a super-procrastinator when it comes to hand-stitching.  I’m not sure why, because once I finally force myself to sit down and do it, it’s never that painful, and it never takes very long.  But it’s pretty obvious that I don’t practice much, because my hand work is still atrocious.  I tell myself it looks more folky that way.  Anyway, I’m sure Gi will understand, since she is the person who pointed me to this Wendell Berry quotation:

“The body characterizes everything it touches. What it makes it traces over with the marks of its pulses and breathings, its excitements, hesitations, flaws, and mistakes. On its good work, it leaves the marks of skill, care, and love persisting through hesitations, flaws, and mistakes. And to those of us who love and honor the life of the body in this world, these marks are precious things, necessities of life.”

So, here they finally are, only one year late, the Coffee & Corduroy Coasters.  Love ya, Gi!!

This weekend was

Epiphany: pink cupcakes, blessing the house, and three Sleepover Pals (from Wee Wonderfuls) finished just in time for opening presents.

Of course, the whole weekend was spent chasing Beatrice, who kept insisting that the new dollies were hers (“My!!”), and returning the dolls to their rightful owner.  And then trying unsuccessfully to convince Bea to play with her own doll.

The amaryllis is in full bloom.

Beatrice keeps shedding her clothes and running around gleefully shouting “Nay-nee, nay-nee!” which is her way of saying “nakee,” i.e. naked.

Food was a big focus this weekend, both making it and sharing it.  We, like many people, made a few food resolutions for this year, so activity in the kitchen is picking up.  Unfortunately, the resolutions did not involve making fewer dirty dishes.  Fortunately (for me), Jake washed almost all of them this weekend.

The weather is still so unseasonably warm that we went hiking.  The trail was short and Adeline walked the whole way without complaining (until we got back to the parking lot and suddenly it was questionable whether she’d be able to make it back to the van), and Beatrice was carried the whole way, except for once we’d reached the top of the scenic overlook, when we put her on the ground for less than two minutes and she managed to fall into a patch of burrs, which got stuck all over her fleece pants.

Linking up with Amanda today.

]]> http://themakinglife.wordpress.com/2012/01/08/weekending-6/feed/ 5 themakinglife cupcakes amaryllis na-nee! sorting sleepover pals mine http://themakinglife.wordpress.com/2012/01/02/three-christmases/ http://themakinglife.wordpress.com/2012/01/02/three-christmases/#comments Tue, 03 Jan 2012 03:47:23 +0000 Sara http://themakinglife.wordpress.com/?p=2421 ]]>

Back in October, we passed a milestone of sorts.  We have been living in this home longer than we’ve ever lived in one place during our seven-and-a-half years of marriage (our old record was 2 years, 3 months).

snowman from Elsie Marley’s advent coloring book

In this place, more than in any other, I’ve let myself grow attached; I’ve dug some roots down into this community, even though I knew from the beginning that this place would likely be no more permanent than the rest have been.  I’ve literally dug roots here, planting a small perrenial flower bed, knowing full well that I won’t be here to see these plants come into their prime.  We’ve hung pictures on the wall.  For our girls, this is the only place Adeline remembers as home, and the only home Bea has ever known.

We’ve established traditions here, some that we can adapt and take with us wherever we end up, but some that revolve around this community that I will miss deeply when we’re gone.

A lot of things have been up in the air lately, with regards to staying or leaving … when … where?  Entering into our third Christmas in this home (more than we’ve ever celebrated in one place before) I was growing a bit sad, nervous, thinking it might be our last here; thinking of all leaving behind all our friends, adding more names to the list of good people we only correspond with via Christmas letter.  And always quietly praying that we will find a way to stay here – for good.

Even though I’m often anxious to be settled in “our place,” wherever that may be, it has been a bit of a relief to find out that we’ll  be staying here for a while longer than we originally thought.  That I’ll be able to tend those perennials this summer.  That we can watch the fireworks over the river again.  That we can make it to one last beer potluck and eat homemade funnel cakes during Riverboat Days.  That I can take Adeline to see The Nutcracker on her birthday one more time.  That we won’t have to say goodbye just yet to some very, very dear people.

That we will likely celebrate one more Christmas right here.  At home.

Our weekend was so full, so busy, but so good.  Full of friends and food and singing and being outdoors; so much go-go-going, but a good deal of staying at home, too.

It started with a daddy/daughter day out so mommy could do some much-needed cleaning.  There is nothing like starting out in a clean space to make a weekend wonderful.

There were many gatherings of friends.  Our first (and hopefully not last!) nut-cracking party.  Adeline’s children’s program at church.  Jake singing in the choir’s Christmas cantata.  Also a caroling party (songs & soup, two of my favorite things!).

Also, the weather was amazingly warm.  There were two trips to playgrounds (Adeline said, “Mommy, I noticed you can go to the park in winter!”), and a walk through the “woods” (i.e. vacant lot full of trees) near our house so Adeline could find “wood for the winter” — you know, to carve into Christmas shapes like bells and Santas.

I cannot think of a better way to spend a weekend!

Linking up with Amanda today!