Of Cabbages and Kings, and Whirling Dervish Heather.

My blog is fast turning into the kind of blog that used to really irritate me. You know, the kind that has a blogger who only writes rarely. I'm sheepishly grinning right now, because now I understand that kind of blog. I would read them, get interested, then, bam, the mom has another child or something else super interesting happens in the household -- and what kind of posts follow this?


Not many.

But I get it now! Of course the mom couldn't post! She was otherwise occupied.

So, to be honest, those kinds of blogs don't irritate me anymore (partly because I don't have time to read them at all), and partly because I am humbled to admit that there's another kind of blog that irritates me instead: the kind of blog that always has thoughtful posts and always is interesting. I am amazed by those women who are able to do this blogging stuff as well as keep up with their homemaking. I salute you!

I am just quickly checking in here, while one child splashes in the tub off of the office where I type, and while Baby Madeline slumbers. (I have the monitor right here by the mouse).

This morning I was someone who, according to my wise husband, I'm not supposed to be. I was who he refers to as Whirling Dervish Heather.

I did laundry, I filled the dishwasher, I fed the toddler, I popped batches of cookie dough into and out of the oven, I chopped vegetables for a beautiful soup, I invited the neighbors over for lunch, I nursed. As I did all of that joyfully and with great zeal, I felt happy and at home and at ease and capable.

I thought about how NOT to overhostess, and pulled off an impromptu lunch pretty well. Yay.

But, as she always does, Whirling Dervish Heather is now completely exhausted, and alas, she has not yet made dinner. Sigh.

The baby awakes, and I must trot.

My Retro-Themed Kitchen: the tea portion of the garland.

Happy little people drinking tea! This is right over the section of my counter devoted to tea-making. I often stand at this spot while pulling together everything that goes into making and serving a nice spot of tea. And this sign below always cracks me up!
And now let's all sit down for a good cup of the wonderful brew. Shall I pour?

Once More into the Breach! My Retro-Themed Kitchen: the Betty Crocker illustration garland.

Don't you just adore old cookbooks? The thing is, though, in my own experience I have not found them to be particularly great sources of recipes. However, I have a soft spot for the illustrations in them. So one day this winter, I got out my scissors and attacked this old Betty Crocker - - and made a garland for my kitchen cupboards. It is right at my eye level, and is nice and inspiring to see as I cook and clean and such around my little kitchen. Here it is:
The story seems to begin with a lady in an apron planning, then shopping,
then stocking her fridge,
then working in the kitchen,
then taking the fruit of her labor out of the oven, then presenting it to loved ones,

and then repeating that age-old process. Thus, the life of a homemaker! This garland of illustrations reminds me that I am joining the parade of women homemakers who have gone before us. They may have had kitchens that appear slightly different from ours, but they were doing the same thing: serving their families and making (I hope) tasty and healthy food. Onward, my fellow cooks, mothers, wives, homemakers! Once more into the breach!

My Retro - Themed Kitchen: the new wall hanging.

Hi! Things are going well here at home; I must say that the addition of a second child seems much more peaceful than the arrival of the first. I'm still groggy and not as organized as I strive to be, but our days are basically in pretty good shape.
Here are pictures of one of my latest projects: I've made a dear wall hanging for the kitchen. Above you'll see the before and after photos, and then close-ups of the hanging itself.

The fabric was from Fabric.com and all I did was finish off the edges, sew on ribbons, and hang it by a dowel at the top. The little retro images show ladies in aprons doing various everyday household tasks, and the motto reads Domestic Divas Do It All.

I find it greatly encouraging throughout the day as I pass by it doing the billion-and-five domestic tasks that only show if I do not do them!

Oh, and don't be alarmed by the background of the ironing close-up shot: Baby Madeline was under my attentive supervision as she stretched upon the guest bed.

Heirloom Baby Card Garland (or, what to do with all those lovely New Baby cards!)

Here's a way to both keep and use a stack of special cards:

Using strong ribbon of whatever length is long enough to display all the cards, make a garland by machine stitching along the folds of the cards. Make sure they all are positioned with the front of the cards facing outward.

To the right, note the penguin toddler pajamas which I mended right before doing this craft. :o) *ha ha ha* I hadn't noticed that they made it into the picture until now.

The third photo here shows a card as it is being stitched to the ribbon: the card is all the way open under the presser foot of the machine.

I made 2 garlands - one which is made of New Baby cards, one of baptism cards. These can be strung up as decorations at her birthday if we want, or on her baptismal anniversary.

I think this is a good way to make use of the pretty cards rather than have them either get lost or languish in a file folder for the rest of our lives...this would be a good idea for wedding cards, too - I could make garlands out of them and string them up on our anniversary each year.

Three Weeks Old!

Madeline is 3 weeks old today!

Rrrring! Rrring! a telephone idea....

I have always wanted a pretty telephone, but alas, along came cel phones. It seems that the designers who make cel phones don't care about the same things I do.

1. So, I cut out a picture from a Victorian Trading catalog of a beautiful (but land-line) telephone that I cannot have.

2.I taped it to the wall above the corner of our mantel shelf, where I now store my phone!

This way my phone is in a fairly central location in our household - no more missing calls or voicemails because the phone was at the bottom of my purse, in the closet, under a pile of sewing! And, this way I get to see the beautiful phone I would love to have all the time.