Monday, April 11, 2011

Meet a Mama Monday - Meet Robin!

Happy Meet-a-Mama-Monday.  Today, we have a very special mama for you to meet.

Her name is Robin.  She isn't a mama yet.  Although she will be any day now!

Right now, she is in that all important nesting phase.  She is busy gathering all things necessary to keep her little ones (that's right, multiples!) safe and warm. She is tiding things up.  She is scoping out her surroundings, making sure it will be safe when her dear babies arrive.

Remember that time? Right before you had your baby.  When you looked around the house, and thought, oh dear! The walls are not washed.  How can I ever bring a child into this world when the walls are not spotless?

And, you ironed all your fabric stash before  color coding it (again).  After all, how can a babe thrive if the fabrics aren't pretty and organized?  

This mama is doing a little bit more important nesting than wiping down walls and organizing fabrics.  Not that those aren't important.  But, this mama is nesting. 

Literally. 

She is building a nest.

As in, a nest with sticks. 

Meet Robin:

(pictures coming soon)

Karis and I first noticed her out Karis' window this weekend.  I thought, how funny, that bird is sitting so still and for so long.  Then, when we came back later and she was there again, I started to wonder what was up with this bird.  

She must have decided Karis and I weren't too dangerous, because she started to build her nest a few hours later.  We've watched it grow the past two days.  And now, it looks  ready for some eggs!

We've also enjoyed spotting Mama Robin in the yard, eating my neighbor's newly planted grass seed, much to her chagrin.  

Karis now wakes up from her naps saying, "mama bird."  I don't know if this is, "Mama, bird." As in, 

"Mama, there is a bird outside my window!" 

or

"Mama Bird!"

or

"Mama, come get me right now, this bird is looking at me again and it's kind of freaking me out." 

or

"More, more food! The bird has food, I want a snack.  How about some jelly beans? More, more!"

It's probably the last one.  But, I'll pretend it's the first.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Monday, April 4, 2011

A Little Spring

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Spring has sprung! Or, at least, it had before this storm moved in. And to celebrate, I thought my girl needed a little spring quilt.

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I absolutely adore this fabric... although I forgot to save the name of it. The spring birds are so adorable. You can almost hear them, "cheep-cheep" for their mama!

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It was my first attempt at free motion quilting. And, I'm in love. It's so much fun, and the results are beautiful. I need some practice- some wider loops, fewer corners... perhaps I need another trip to the fabric store to find some more fabric to practice with!

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Cheep-cheep!

Happy Spring!

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IMG_2361 by karismama
IMG_2361, a photo by karismama on Flickr.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

String Quilt

Do not adjust the color on your computer!
There is no color : )
Well, sort of a color.


Mud?  Sepia maybe?  
Not black, not brown but somewhere in between.
I like the name "putty".


Done with the squares, done with the horizontal strips.
Just need to put the strips all together, make a quilt sandwich, quilt it, bind it and 
get it off to my son and new daughter-in-law...
I better get to work!



Thursday, March 24, 2011

Oooo, pretty!

Look what came in the mail today!!!




Modern Affair Mango Flower Blast and Modern Affair Olive Fizz by Patricia Bravo for Art Gallery Fabrics and,

Amy Butler's Soul Blossoms Cilantro Laurel Dots and Soul Blossoms Lemon Daisy Paisley



Two of my daughters were just here in D.C. visiting, and carrying an over the shoulder purse while navigating the metro, visiting the Smithsonian, the Capitol, the "Mall"AND walking 500 miles for a Georgetown Cupcake cupcake (a.k.a. DC Cupcakes on TLC) is nonsense! It adds at least an extra 20 pounds to your shoulders and always needs to be adjusted and monitored. We decided that a small cross-body purse is the solution. Soooo, I'm going to try to make a couple out of these lovely fabrics. Any ideas out there?

































Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Happy Birthday, Karis ... part 1: The Cake


Turns out, there is one thing our girl who loves all things edible doesn't like. 


Cupcakes. 

We had a little birthday celebration for Karis while we were in DC with my parents and bought Karis a genuine DC cupcake complete with ganach and pink frosting.  Karis was very excited to see it! And, she loved everyone singing happy birthday to her.  But then, she got a taste of the frosting.


She gagged. Then signed, "all done, all done, all done!" (I'm pretty sure the raising of her hands like this means, "Get me away from this cupcake RIGHT NOW!")


So for Karis' real birthday, we decided to do something a little different.
(Can you believe this girl is ONE?!?!)


An adapted version of Southern Living's Strawberry Swirl Cream Cheese Pound Cake. 
Made gluten free and with less sugar. 

3/4 stick of butter, softened
1 cup of  sugar
4 oz cream cheese, softened
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups gluten free flour mix (I used Pamela's bread mix.)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup berry glaze (recipe below)

1. Preheat oven to  350.  Beat butter and sugar together.  Add cream cheese.  Add eggs, one at a time.
2. Gradually add flour to butter mixture, beating at a low speed.
3. Stir in vanilla extract.
4. Pour one-third of the batter into a greased loaf pan.  
5. Make the berry glaze by heating berries over medium to high heat with a few tablespoons of water, add a few tablespoons of sugar if needed.  Continue to heat until syrup forms. 
6.  Pour a few spoonfuls of the berry glaze into the batter of the loaf pan.  Swirl with a knife to mix batter and berries together slightly.
7. Add next one third of batter and repeat.  Add remaining batter and repeat.
8.  Bake at 350 for one hour.  

We topped the cake off with the remaining berry glaze mixed with powdered sugar. YUMM!!! 

(Karis was more fascinated by the candle than the cake.)

And she was REALLY sad when we wouldn't let her touch the candle.

But, she LOVED the cake!

And, since no one year old should only have one or two birthday parties, we celebrated with some family and a few friends on Saturday.  For this birthday party, we decided to do strawberry shortcake.

Success! (Although, to be honest, the strawberries were a success. Karis wasn't overly fond of the shortcake or the whipped cream.)