white apples . a blog

even in the leafless winter

Juni has been home from school all week for winter break and we've been enjoying the warm, sunny, most-definitely-not-winter weather - that is, when we weren't recovering from yet another round of stomach bug/norovirus. The past few months have been packed full of colds and sniffles and fevers and stomach discomforts and various other viral-mediated miseries (such as hand-foot-and-mouth disease, GAH! the aftermath of which I am still, STILL, experiencing a solid month later; yes, adults can get it and, believe me, it is not pretty). Right now the wind is blowing and the sun is shining and buds are popping up everywhere and I am so, so relieved to say goodbye to this crazy winter we've had, with its confusingly mild temperatures and its incessant kid-borne illnesses.

Juni only goes to preschool for three days a week, four hours each day. One week off didn't seem like too much of a disruption to me. Yet my usually adaptable little girl seems quite out of sorts with this break in her weekly rhythm. We've experienced unprecedented levels of stubborn defiance this week - throwing things and talking back and a general unchanneled restlessness that leaves chaos wherever we go.

At least we've been able to play outside most days. We've watched little finches build their nest in our birdhouse. We've chased the squirrel away from our birdfeeder (again and again). We've counted mole holes (there are many). We've run around the back yard yelling, "Deer! Deer! Deer! DEER!!!" (okay, that was just Owen).

On a particularly bright and windy day, we dyed silk scarves with Kool-Aid and hung them up outside to dry. This was an easy, fun project and the kids have been playing with the silks every day (with much excitement and high-pitched squealing). I suppose this was our way of welcoming spring - bright and airy and soft and, I hope, I hope, free from germs.

I bought the 35" square silk scarves from Dharma Trading. For dyeing, we used this tutorial and this Kool-Aid color chart.

*post titled with apologies to Mary Oliver and her poem "Starlings in Winter"

happy hugs

Happy Valentine's Day from us to you!

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

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inspired by Amanda Soule. join in on her blog.

robot love

This is the quilt that I made for my friend Kellie's new little baby boy, Liam Parker. This is a pretty big departure from my usual fabric choices, but I thought the teal, maroon, and mustard color combo was interesting and unusual for a boy and I hoped little Liam would one day appreciate the quirky robot theme.

The fabric is Cogsmo by Cosmo Cricket for Andover Fabrics. I love all the prints together and with the stripey binding and circuit board printed backing, the whole thing ended up looking pretty adorable for a little boy. However, this quilt has a bunch of little mistakes that are driving me crazy. In planning the design, I didn't consider size, so this quilt is huge for a baby. Huge. Also, for some reason, I didn't have enough pins to baste this (huge) quilt properly (where are all my pins?), but instead of spending the few dollars for another pack, I forged ahead. So this is pretty much the worst machine quilting I've ever done. I opted for minimal quilting lines, outlining the squares. But the whole thing was quite shifty, so there are puckers all over the place, making the whole quilt rather... wonky.

Hopefully, sweet baby Liam won't mind. Congratulations, Kellie and Chris!

PS: Liam's quilt is draped over Juni's new play tent. My brother and I put it together one morning while she was at school using this tutorial. It is the perfect spot for afternoon reading, pretend camping, and impromtu popcorn parties.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

*** *** ***

inspired by Amanda Soule. join in on her blog.

winter, of sorts

She looks so very big, doesn't she?

With the blissfully mild winter we've been having, this girl has been spending much of her time outdoors. At school, the children spend an hour outside every day, in any weather - which means lots of tromping through the woods and splashing in puddles and digging in dirt. If the weather is nice, we also hang around after school for more outside play or we come home and visit the playground for sliding and swinging and fairy-house building. What a crazy January.

To accomodate the wildly fluctuating temperatures around these parts, I put aside the Rainbow Blankie (and it is so close...) in favor of knitting warm, woolie layers for my two little winter explorers. This tunic is Shannon Passmore's Versa pattern (on Ravelry here). This was an easy, seamless top-down knit. I used some Malabrigo Rios (Zarzamora colorway) from my stash (my Ravelry link is here), though I would like to cast on something a bit sturdier next time. Again, I'm having trouble photographing the true colors of my yarny projects - this is a lovely, deep sort of plummy purple with some watery greens and blues thrown in. Juni loves how twirly and flouncy it turned out. I love that she has something  nice and warm and pretty to layer over shirts and under jackets. 

(Linking up to Ginny's Yarn Along, a day late and a book short...)