Gritty Pretty

Milo Vest and Studio

2012-01-21T19:59:00.000-08:00

As soon as it was off the needles and the ends woven in Ezra wore his new vest. In other words, this vest has not yet been blocked.

Out back...the studios have a metal roof and it hailed ferociously while we were attending to this and that. I must say that it's a personal dream come true to hear the roof being pelted by hail. It was deafening and exciting.

Ezra climbed the ladder into the loft by himself (while being spotted) but still, by himself!!!

I told Ollie that I'll get my magic back when we have our studios up and running and then asked Ollie, "what brings you that feeling of magic???" He thought carefully and then answered "when i feel like i am helping others". HAHAHAHAHA! He's not trying to school me on priorities he really is...

Saint Oliver.

He's a solidly good person as well as a brilliant artist and when I'm surrounded by his visual-expressions-made-manifest I feel the glory of our creator.

Besos!

Bonus picture of Ezra bear.

Knitting a Farm Yard

2012-01-16T16:17:00.000-08:00

I first mentioned the Knitted Farmyard in this post. My knitted farm is still in process but Ezra is already playing with it! He uses the main building as a footstool and has been known to carry it around with him. Haha! As I knit i'm thinking of and trying to incorporate permaculture design elements including: hugelkulture, swales, medicine wheel (relates to the mandala garden), dwarf goat hedge labyrinth, keyline pond system, planting guilds under the fruit trees, and a small food forest system, maybe i can crochet some aquaculture. The funny little ducks are Khaki Campbells, my favorite! I have a lot more to knit and crochet but will be looking to include cold frames, a greenhouse, hoop house, and some heritage animals.

P.S. The wooden flatbed truck was made by Susan's awesome dad who gave it and another cool handmade car to Ezra. Thank you Susan's dad!!!

P.P.S. All of my metal knitting needles look like this after one use. Does this happen to anyone else? I know i have a vicegrip but gee whiz!

This post is part of the Yarn Along at Small Things.

Lately and more knitting & crocheting

2012-01-15T20:04:00.000-08:00

Ezra has been doing circus tricks since he could put weight on his legs (a very long time). He was so little when he would climb onto the rocking chair by himself, let go of everything and rock back and forth like he was on a surf board riding a wave. So it's only to be expected that he prefers to ride his "neigh" while standing on its back (we call it his "horsey" but he calls it his "neigh".) =)

Ezra scored his own spray bottle (full of water) after an incident where he climbed on the kitchen island and sprayed/saturated the mozzarella with a powerful essential oils cleaner.

Walking around the hood. It has been unseasonably warm.
Made this owl hat using this free pattern. The yarn is organic cotton. Size newborn for my pregnant neighbor who is now overdue! It was so fun to crochet- any of my nieces and nephews want one? Gunnar? Zigzag? I think i can figure out bigger sizes for the older nieces and nephews, just place your order!!!

Momma Mia knit the blue slippers for Ezra and he immediately lost one so i knit some BRIGHT orange ones with a longer cuff so they wouldn't fall off. We found the missing blue one but alas, I can't find the other orange one anywhere. There is no moral to this story. P.S. I have to use needles two sizes bigger than momma mia's in order to obtain the same gauge.

Besos!

More of Lately

2012-01-12T19:41:00.000-08:00

Ezra as a wiseman.

Time is going by too fast. I drink my yerba mate, chase Ezra around, and then the day is over. Today we had fun standing on the big bed and falling down into the pillows over and over. Very enthusiastically Ezra says and hand signs "more, more". It is adorable.

However, while time is going fast, our drains went from ridiculously slow to a full standstill. Until the plumbing is fixed I can't do dishes or laundry so I've given up on chores and have been knitting more. Pictures soon!

Besos!

Lately

2012-01-06T21:58:00.000-08:00

Ollie needed a matching hat to Ezra. (the greenhouse door is fixed!!!and THANKFULLY the plants and the worm bins are nice and warm in there.

Dada teaching Ezra how to make "one-eyed pirates" (toast with hole cut out and egg in the hole- what do you call them?)

needle-felted a wee coat for Nina's dog named tulip.

ezra loves STARING a the holiday pictures of his cousins.

We joined the Utah-Waldorf group in celebrating Epiphany by eating Kings' cake and opening gifts from the gnomes! (hammering open geods)

Oliver has been working from home which is the best present ever!!! Suffice it to say, we have been savoring our lovely time all together!

Besos!

Scenes

2011-12-28T01:07:00.000-08:00

We are celebrating Christmas for all Twelve Holy Nights 'til Epiphany. Spreading it out has made it much more peaceful and do-able. A few gifts here and there. Lots of family. Playing carols on the piano. Knitting. Needle-felting. Naps. Magical hikes.

Besos!

Cardboard Christmas

2011-12-26T02:45:00.000-08:00

This is what we did with large pieces of cardboard from the recycling bin.

Momma mia and i made a christmas village. Ezra loves boxes so i knew it would be a hit.

In process...(Ezra's mustache is from a smoothie.)

Another cute visitor of happy town.

More proof that Ez is delighted by cardboard - check out his expression- the best gifts really are the simplest.

Um, Ezra...you are adorable and amusing. You wore this circle of cardboard while making sound effects. You and your antics throughout the day made our Christmas!

Lately

2011-12-22T23:51:00.000-08:00

Very temporarily all the plants normally in the greenhouse are inside (until a greenhouse door is replaced). So for a very short while the front room is host to ripe lemons from the lemon tree! And dirt! Ezra finds both irresistible!

And i find this kid irresistible.

(Note: i freaked out when i saw how his cheeks look so chapped in this pic but ollie says its the camera setting. his shirt isn't that red either.)

On the needles, a nativity or "knitivity". one shepard, one wise person, and the holy family. more to come. including arms for the shepard and a shepard's crook.

Besos!

Tick Tock

2011-12-21T21:49:00.000-08:00

Ezra spitting out some pineapple. Too sour!

These are some pics momma mia sent (taken on a cell phone) of a recent dinner with some family i haven't seen in waaaay too long. Love you Cousin Christy! and Tori!

Other things of late:

Went to a smashing bash hosted by Ash Sanders. Saw many gorgeous folk with "hearts too big for their rib cages"
Ezra and I follow busy O'lover around while he visits clients. We just need to be together- all three of us!
Preparing to do the inner work of claiming all that 2011 has brought and letting it all work for good in my heart. The celebrations of this time of year (michaelmas, martinmas, my birthday, thanksgiving, festivals of light) always get me excited for endings and beginnings!
Ezra and I walked around in the dark and cold smelling dormant plants, and crushing seed pods. James is playing Christmas music and Ollie is making magic hot cocoa. Happy Solstice everyone!

Besos!
Quel

Advent Calendar and Gnomes

2011-12-15T21:41:00.000-08:00

I commissioned (haha, i asked) momma mia to knit the envelopes of this advent calendar. I then felted them and embroidered the numbers. St. Nick's, St. Lucia's, Solstice, Christmas are all gray envelopes. I ran out of wooden buttons to secure the tabs. Plus some decorative embroidery is needed although i like the plainness. Hmmm...

The envelopes are big enough to hold things such as these gnomes. Free pattern here.

On St. Nicholas morning Ezra's wellies were filled with chocolate gold coins and a big red gnome.

We are gnome happy around here.

Besos!

A Look Around

2011-12-15T21:11:00.000-08:00

Today Momma mia and i were knitting and i asked a loud, "why are we doing this?" And we reflected on the many generations of knitters who came before us and the habits we form. Abuelita taught me to brandish needles when i was six. And I still have one of my first childhood projects. A doll blanket.

TamTam, my sister has taken up knitting again. She knit these spiral hats for Mr. T and Zigzag.

Ongoing knitting/crocketing projects and books i am reading...

Haha. Funny little ducks and chickens.

Knitting mostly happens while Ezra explores the neighborhood. I follow him around with my knitting bag which is the perfect length to support the weight of my projects while we roam.

And we roam everywhere.

This gnome is curious.

Besos!

Quel

And as to why we do this? Because i love it. More knit-and-tell coming up!

Owl Moon and a Sweater

2011-12-06T22:23:00.000-08:00

We're reading and greatly admiring a book called Owl Moon by Jane Yolen. (Aside: we love learning all the native names for all of the full moons. Ezra was born on a full moon in May known by various titles including the flower moon, planting moon, the honey moon. The next full moon is on the 10th and is called the Cold Moon or the Long Nights moon. Brrrrr...)

Knitting a solstice sweater for Ollie. He knows all about it and has had input all along the way. He chose this free pattern. The yarn is Eco Wool.

In other news...nona has been demonstrating long jumping to Ezra- and he's been practicing ever since.

Nona speaks only Spanish to Ezra. Here Ezra is pointing to "la nariz".

Today Freddie and Dani brought us an antique dresser from Virginia City, Montana. After conditioning the wood (using the beeswax and jojoba oil we made for Ezra's wood blocks) we found a place for it and decided it's the new home for cloth napkins, seasonal tablecloths, and nature displays. It is low enough for Ezra to easily use!

Besos!

This post is part of the Yarn Along at Small Things!

A Look Around

2011-12-03T22:12:00.000-08:00

Out and about we've been taking advantage of neighborhood events such as downtown gallery stroll and BYU festivities. Back at the cottage it's a lot of Christmas book reading, knitting gifts, and chasing a baby who isn't convinced that clothes are necessary (but baby its cold outside!)

Hope you're making merry and keeping spirits bright!

Besos hasta el cielo!

Great Heights

2011-11-30T14:23:00.000-08:00

Watching Ezra start to learn more about the holidays makes me so excited for him. He was happy running through the Christmas tree forest at Allred's, setting up the lights, and then the next morning? He was shocked and delighted to find out the trees (ours and Nina's) were still inside our houses! It's not just a dream, there are trees INSIDE!!!

The below outfit consists of corduroy overalls sewn by nona about 30 years ago, a hat she knit yesterday and a sweater knit by abuelita.

Ezra banged on his best friend's door but sadly they were not home. I was leaving but Ezra did not want to give up. We found out a few minutes later they weren't home because they were at the cottage knocking on our door. We spent the morning at the park with our besties.

Cheers!

Quel

Day after Thanskgiving

2011-11-27T13:36:00.000-08:00

Catching air with Uncle Stu. Check out Ezra's happy face.

I found this video of Stu with skate scenes from our alley (at 1 minute in) and glimpses of some of the other uncles.

Ezra loves being upside down.

Ezra doing chest compressions on a collapsed uncle.

Nina comes home! Hooray!

Blissed out Ezra in the arms of his Nina.

Ezra spots Uncle Andrew on the roof.

Blowing off the leaves.

Spent part of Thanksgiving learning about Ollie's ancestors Agnes and John Pack. John Pack started the University of Utah in his living room. Ollie is related a couple of ways including one of John's granddaughters married Charles A. Callis, the apostle and Ollie's great grandpa. The link will take you to an Ensign article about how Elder Callis was sent to preside over the southern states (for over 40 years!) at a time when missionaries were being tarred and feathers and murdered. He was able to create a spirit of good will where there had been none. I've been reading some of the ancestors' letters, originals in their perfect penmanship. What poetry. Their words to each other are so descriptive and heartfelt it feels like I'm watching their lives on a Masterpiece Theatre series.

First thing in the morning Ezra loves to play with the Thanksgiving table and the mushrooms made by our friend TreePeeps (Nina bought them for us at the Beehive Bazaar.)

Close-up of the wool mushroom folk on the lumina pumpkin.

We're still feasting on leftovers, went to see Hugo, now changing out the cottage decor and getting ready for the rest of the Holidays. Including sending out cards this year (last year's cards never made it out). If you want on the list e-mail me!

Besos!

A Look Around

2011-11-24T16:07:00.000-08:00

Ezra is insisting nona teaches him to knit. He brought his circular needles and crawled into her lap for a lesson.

Usually the moses basket just holds his quilts but he regularly empties it and gets inside.

He loves making cozy beds everywhere. We tell a story about how a boy named Ezra was at home wherever he lived and could make a cozy bed out of leaves in the forest, reeds by a pond, a cave in the mountain, or little forts throughout the cottage and all the land.

Knitting this seed stitch sweater for Ollie and a gnome hat for Ezra. And reading Little Runner of the Longhouse.

Ezra was dubious about the hat at first until looking in the mirror.

Then practiced putting it on by himself.

Then the gnome hat is in full use! on a walk with Uncle Stu.

The lovely Ardell, Maya, and Mario came to visit! Maya tried on the head dress I made for Ezra.

Maya lives in LA and says the treehouse is better than disneyland. =)

Thanksgiving lunch. I'm wearing my Native American beads to honor my Mapuche ancestors and blondie has Cherokee blood.

Ezra is alternately playing the guitar and chroma harp with a knitting needle. It sounded surprisingly melodic.

My gratitude list includes:
having my mother rattle off her extremely long gratitude list covering everything; starting with Ezra and the infinite atonement all the way to her mattress. She is one grateful person! And an excellent example to me!
Nina who tells me she loves us at least five times a day and who nurtures everyone and stands as witness that the universe is generous.
The way Poppy talks to Ezra in a special falsetto voice that none of the rest of us knew he had. =)
All of our ancestors, friends, family, and especially....

O'lover and Ezra. My boys.

Oh and whomever raked our leaves! Gee whiz what a nice surprise! Thank you!!!

This morning...

2011-11-22T19:49:00.000-08:00

Ezra and I spend a lot of time outside, every day, rain or shine. But today was autumn at its finest! Which made it super easy to see the beauty of the world and get filled up with goodness. We walked a few blocks past historic pioneer homes and entered a world class campus, BYU. If you haven't been for a while, or plan on visiting can we recommend the south campus trail? Here are a few shots. In the spring and summer there's seven - count them SEVEN- waterfalls and a beautiful river. I've been told that the water is recycled grey water coming from campus air conditioning units, etc. There are terraces, picnic pavilions, and a beautiful river (which is dry right now but still lovely). Usually Ezra and I have all this scenery to ourselves!!! A couple of times we've seen college students racing rubber duckies down the river.

We walked all the way to the Bean Museum.

Here's their show schedule.

Most days I would have scoffed at the very unprofessional intrusion of Christmas in the animal displays but... today i only scoffed slightly and then loved it. Plus Ezra LOVED it.

Snap shot at the museum of art. A painting of a pueblo- i always think that clothes hanging on a line to dry is art worthy (case in point- the gritty pretty header).

xo,

quel

Lately

2011-11-21T23:07:00.000-08:00

Ezra's wool longies are done! Maybe they'll be big enough for next year too.

A knit gnome for the Rainbow Witch. Alpaca yarn body stuffed with that rambouillet wool AJ and I got from Coalsville UT forever ago.

The gnome's delivery bag.

I subbed for an after school art class. We talked about Arcosanti, and dreamed out loud about the communities we'd love to live in. Some of their ideas were a hammock village, a snow globe, living in a chocolate chip cookie, underwater world, living in a hamburger.

Ezra needs a bigger sweater...Last year's sweater is this year's "vest"? =)

Hard at work sweeping.

Ollie is adjusting my totally ineffective hilarious diapering job (Ezra is a moving target!) We went to the new Natural History Museum in SLC...what a treat!

I love these boys.

Besos!

Soos

2011-11-10T15:00:00.000-08:00

The Susan chronicles continue! And I might be wrong about some of the details...maybe if I am wrong enough a "certain someone" will have to post corrections on her own blog!!!! Susan always says "a certain someone" because she never names names. Example: When reminding a little person why they need to wash their hands..."Because a certain someone was picking their nose."

K, the following Susan stories are true to the best of my ability.

I can't be sure...but Susan was probably proposing to whoever was taking this picture? Proposing they play a game of basketball, of course!! Basketball is supremely important to her.

On her LDS mission to Germany Susan got to know a lot of people from the Waldorf community. She has been teaching me a lot about Rudolph Steiner methods for education.

Susan, on her mission again with some investigators. Actually, some friends visiting from Missouri.

This unsuspecting cute elder has no idea susan has her own arm behind her back making it look like a side hug.

Back here in Provo at the Art Front we had summer intensive art workshops. Susan and her entire class are Frida Kahlo!!!! Other times they were Andy Warhol. But ALL of the time they were covered in paint and clay. I remember that the little girl next to Susan on the left (who is the middle kitten on this blog.) WAS ALWAYS THE MOST PAINT COVERED. I would have her change into my clothes before she went home- thank goodness back then I wore babydoll t-shirts that would actually fit.

Besos!

Wait! There's more! And this is the part where i GUSH. I would like Susan no matter what. I just do. But the more I know about her the more I realize...she has the purest heart. She doesn't care what you look like, what you're wearing, who you're friends with, if you're connected, if you're cool or popular., she cares about your HEART. She cares that people are kind. She cares about goodness. Susan is beautiful.

First Snow, Knitting, Reading

2011-11-09T19:20:00.000-08:00

It snowed on Sunday. Ezra kept putting some on his finger and watching it melt. And he found it tasted good too. =)

A short walk with Susan!!! She is recovering but that short walk should have been shorter. =(

A lot of knitting and reading is taking place. So nice to be cozy inside while the high temp has been 32. The Halloween books were just put in storage with the decorations.

Last summer Farrer elementary had a 10 cent sale on used books and we stocked up. All the lovely pages are worn.

With the knitting comes A LOT of untangling yarn. In the background Ollie is tuning the chromaharp.

Nona and Ezra are quite the untangling team.

Ezra has been running around the house with a ball of yarn unraveling in his wake- it's like he's spinning webs! Sometimes he sits by me with his ball of yarn, i hand him bamboo circular needles and his long fingers are busy "knitting". =)

Besos!

Autumn at the Cottage

2011-11-05T15:42:00.000-07:00

Not at the cottage but close enough...Susan and Brad's front porch pumpkins. Solidarity!

Burning applewood prunings for a baked potato dinner

Ezra stowing his horse chestnut collection in a vase on our Thanksgiving table.

At Art Night, Ezra and kids were dancing with streamers and in Ezra's case making a headdress.

More Art Night, Ezra making art with the fun girls.

REAL "slow food"- shelling beans that i let dry on the vine.

More slow food, eating homegrown sunflower seeds, a bit of an addiction.

Autumn at the Cottage

Besos!

The Scarecrow

2011-11-02T21:50:00.000-07:00

This scarecrow has two crows on his sleeves, a ladybug on his lapel, and a wee mouse on his hat.

Ezra's vest was an adult-sized wool sweater front for a knitting project that i abandoned ages ago. Momma Mia made some patches for it, i added some buttons and voilà! it kept our scarecrow warm!

We went to Liz's 30th birthday bash at her urban homestead, Walking Stick Farm, across P-town from us.

the felt animals were made a month ago; ezra has been playing with them and was very disturbed to find them sewn to his clothes! so i undid the stitches, safety pinned them on, and we frequently took them off for ezra to play all evening.

Ezra has sound effects for the mouse. It says "chippee chippee" and the crows say "acaw, acaw". i sang one of our favorite songs "black bird" to him on our walk.

Happy Birthday Liz! You are amazing! your homestead is beyond lovely!
Besos!

EnSUSed! (and a Glimpse of Ollie's Studio)

2011-10-29T08:25:00.000-07:00

The Susan posts will continue shortly, leading up to her birthday (!!!) Her mom is here taking care of Sus as she heals up. Have you met Nancy? She is super cool.

Meanwhile I have garden bounty that will soon go bad on the kitchen counters (YIKES!) and Ezra's Halloween costume is far from done. So until I catch up here are some photos from August.

Since then an oversize 9' tall french door has been installed in Ollie's studio and a sliding glass door overlooking the garden is in place in mine and Ezra's studio.

I can't help feeling that REAL life will begin when these studios are up and running!

Ensusiastically,
Quel

P.S. Did you know...Susan was a cheerleader in Arts Highschool for the MATH TEAM?! She knows equations in the form of cheers! It was a boarding school in Minneapolis. YAY for cheering on the mathematicians!

Sweet, Wise, and Hilarious!

2011-10-25T12:40:00.000-07:00

More about Sus:

When I first met her she was going through a phase of wearing sweaters as pants and pants as sweaters. Her roommate often dressed her up for classes. It made life so much BRIGHTER to wonder what Sus was going to wear today!

As far as I can tell Susan was BYU's first performance artist. She would walk around in a swim suit with fur glued all over herself. This is her as Fire Storm Red nail polish.

And this is part of the set.

In art school Sus was always organizing so I heard a ton about her long before I really got to know her. In fact, because of Sus, BYU artists traveled to her home town for art shows and my work is now owned by someone in Minneapolis (which looks stellar on a students' resume, thanks Sus!)

Susan used to model for BYU figure drawing classes. In a bikini, sitting still for hours. Hundreds of Susan portraits abound.

Rumors circulated about this amazing and one-of-a-kind person and... I started getting seriously jealous! I would dream that Susan started up galleries and art studios in downtown Provo and wake up feeling so flaming jealous! I felt so bad for harboring intense feelings towards Susan so I would call her to apologize and leave weird stalker messages on her phone about my jealousy and dreams!

So...maybe you saw this coming....drum roll...

Susan and I started an art gallery together! With Jen Harmon and Katie Campbell! Susan thought it would be awesome to name the gallery "fart rant gely rol" (for at least a few minutes).

But instead it became "Art Front Gallery". We had new art exhibits every two weeks for a couple of years. And local and touring bands played three or more times a week. It was a rocking place! We had crowds spilling out the warehouse on many occasions and sometimes filling the entire streets with hundreds of people. Unfortunately photos are few and far between. But here's this one! I recognize some of the peeps below, do you?

Sus has always been an extremely nurturing person. She will be nursing Super Z or pumping for Ezra while spouting ideas. Susan is an idea generator. She can't stop thinking up ambitious plans for art and film making! or for making our neighborhood better!

Susan teaches her kids to pray every time they hear ambulance sirens; a quick prayer for the well being of strangers.

Classic Sus photo with one eye wandering just a tiny bit! She's really good at it!

Besos!

The Most Fabulous and Magnificent...Susan!!!

2011-10-24T13:22:00.000-07:00

Susan and her best friends in high school.

Susan, highschool

Susan, posing for a painting in college. in the painting she's holding a scale, like lady justice.

Susan, college.

I love these photos of Susan. I love Susan!

She is scheduled to have heart surgery tomorrow. Please join her family and friends in prayer and good thoughts for a speedy and full recovery! I'll keep you posted.

Love,
Quel

A Look Around

2011-10-23T20:23:00.000-07:00

These past few October afternoons have felt like August. But not for long! Our first hard frost is on Tuesday night! Time to put the garden to bed!

I knit this pumpkin head a hat for his birthday. Ezra will get one soon too, maybe just in time for the temperature drop.

Wasatch elementary once gave me their class rat, Azurat. How I loved her! She would sit in my long sleeve, poking out her rat nose, while I practiced the piano. Our harvest table features this rat in my pet's memory.

Oliver bought me 500 red wigglers for our anniversary. The sweetest thing ever! They are housed in this high-rise worm cafe.

There are thousands of worms now. They eat kitchen scraps and I use their worm castings for fertilizer.

Graceful and strong, Swan teaches yoga at the Quarry. And in the living room.

AJ and Nina working late to finish this mushroom piñata. I had so much fun doing the paper mache.

Besos!

3 things Frida

2011-10-23T14:03:00.000-07:00

Prompted by many coincidences the cottage is having an all things frida kahlo resurgence. frida's so epically inspiring! i just checked her art auction history. as you know, her paintings ain't cheap. (but if we all got together and sold all our houses in exchange for ONE painting...)

First, did you see the frida kahlo inspired dollhouse elsita made?

Second, years ago my friend emily lent me her frida kahlo cookbook and yes i returned it but i miss that cookbook and need my own copy! Frida excelled at celebrating all the traditional Mexican holidays with food, food, color, decor, and more food!my bestest (Sus) dressed as frida for the art night at farrer elementary.

(photo swiped from Amy Beatty)

oh frida! your raw, powerful, passionate paintings! your riotous celebrations! your never flinching courage in painting your truth.

P.S. If you know Sus you probably have a magnet of Susan as Frida on your fridge. There were hundreds of magnets made and I love visiting old college friends and they all have a Susan/Frida souveneir.

Welcoming

2011-10-22T12:23:00.000-07:00

My mothering duties include establishing a rhythm to our home life, making certain Ezra has the right clothes to wear (weather and occasion appropriate), wholesome food to eat, and is well rested.
But my favorite mothering duty is welcoming Ezra to the world! Which is a huge ongoing and around-the-clock job!

Ezra is surrounded by welcoming folk!
His first mother who ADORES him.

His Nina who is his confidant and trusted head of the welcoming committee (there's not a formal committee- haha. just saying Nina is a safe harbor of warmth and blessings.)

Susan, the great baby consoler and general merrymaker.

More later.

XOXOXO!!!

No Longer a Babe in Arms

2011-10-22T10:00:00.000-07:00

Time is passing too quickly.

Susan's Blog!!!

2011-10-21T14:01:00.000-07:00

K, don't get too excited. Susan doesn't really have a blog. So I will have to blog for her! (She has never shown the slightest interest in blogdom.) But our overlapping lives means a sneak peak into susan's world every once in a while...

Susan made me and Ezra some felt pumpkin people!

Super Z just celebrated his second birthday. He hates cake and LOVES fruit so Susan' made him the below fruit bouquet. Notice the witch in flight (watermelon at the top).

Party friends below. Lifelong friends that I am so glad we get to watch grow up!

The two-year olds

These cuties go on long adventurous walks together. Super Z is a compassionate and clever child. And the best stroller partner! We are so lucky to know him!!!

We see Sus and Super Z almost every day- or several times a day!

She is a dear and loyal friend.

Susan, we love you.

Besos!
Quel

The Rotational Beds

2011-10-19T19:39:00.000-07:00

Planted this year with the hope of forever after being fruitful: Goji berry shrubs! Huckleberries! White Imperial Currants!

And in the tall grower rotational beds: The three sisters (corn, pole beans, squash), indeterminate tomatoes (green zebras, brandywines), lemon cucumbers, armenian cucumbers, peas

Low-grower rotational beds:

Group 1-sweet peppers, hot peppers, bush beans (heirloom bountiful, stringless snap, painted dry, cherry red potatoes, yukon gold, austrian crescent, purple majesty, tomatillos, eggplants

Group 2- Farao cabbage, moonlight nasturtiums, broccoli, american purple top rutabagas, red ursa kale, long island brussel sprouts, vates blue curled kale, white icycle radishes

Group 3- japanese imperial long carrots, red core chantenay carrots, st. valery carrot heirloom, slow bolt cilantro, salsify (which never germinated!)

Group 4- lots and lots of onions, japanese chrysanthemums (edible) and as pictured below...a wilderness of calendula (behind Ezra) which has since mostly been pulled out and replaced with a fall planting of garlic bulbs. AJ is in the background picking berries for one of her awesome tarts.

I started the growing season worried that the rotational beds were too well maintained and that there would be no room for the magic of an heirloom self- seeding garden. HAHAHAHAHA! Yes, I had pulled A LOT of weeds but the garden was by no means too well-maintained! We had PLENTY of plants from years past sprout up and bless our garden- in fact, the plants that plant themselves are often the most impressive. Thank goodness for an auto-pilot garden! It only needs a little steering, an occassional nudging, and watering from Ezra (its his chore)!

This year's favorite reseeders were the German chamomile (my favorite tea!), carrots, and the ladies never tire of eating the volunteer borage. But for the first time no self-seeding watermelons showed up. Ouch.

The "cracks" in the perennial herb beds were filled in with salad greens, detroit beets, etc. And vining their way through the herb & flower beds: little jack pumpkins, princess pumpkins, zucchinis, winter squashes, spaghetti squashes, zapatillos, scallop squash, butternut squash.

Harvest post coming up!

Ezra's Saturday

2011-10-16T13:35:00.000-07:00

included a rabbit at the farmers' market and ducks at the lake.

Back on shore, Ezra did not want to get out of the three seater kayak. =)

As the sun was setting and the air became brisk, we went to Nina's for her lemon ginger tea and Poppy's ginger applesauce cookies.

Besos!

Friends! and First Kisses!

2011-10-13T13:47:00.000-07:00

Ezra with his bag of toys in the playpen. He lasts alone for two minutes tops.

But then along comes our friend! Who is highly skilled at making Ezra laugh! Thanks Super A!

It has been a summer of friends!

At the park,

the museums,

At weddings! Here Ezra is surrounded by dancing girl friends!

Reading the paper before breakfast with a new friend.

Rolling around with best friend, Super S

Neighborhood friends

First kiss- she kissed him! And second kiss - he kissed her! Adorable Hazel.

And bestest friend, Dada. Ezra is so glad when Dada comes home!

And some of the uncles!

More from the Weekend

2011-10-13T13:08:00.000-07:00

Did someone say "Tap dancing violinist plus a singer songwriter crystal-bowl playing guitarist?!" We are there!

Billy and Grace Tea live in a gypsy caravan and traveled up from Boulder Utah to play at the Great Salt Lake Guitar Company.

They invited this guy from the audience to play percussion. He was ASTOUNDING too.

Ezra was blown away! So was I! Half way through the concert he got up and danced at the front with the other kids. And afterwards he flirted unabashedly with Grace, the lead singer.

And when the lights went up, and the cleaning was underway, I sat down to draw Liz as part of a new challenge to draw every night. My friend Pam ,who has four kids, set the example! Go check out her fine drawings! (Pam, my drawing was horrid! I can't show it!) Ezra kept hurling himself at my model whom he adores making it very difficult, so i recruited Oliver to draw Liz and he did a much more respectable job.

and this is where I insert Ollie's drawing. Eventually. Once I scan it- hmmm...which isn't likely to happen.=)

Besos!

A Look Around on the Weekend

2011-10-13T12:48:00.000-07:00

Ezra has discovered grapes. I've discovered that they go right through his system. =)

With Ezra as their shepard, the ladies are now regularly let out to forage.

Estelle found this two week old kitty in a parking lot. One of the most AMAZING moments for me was watching Ezra bottle feed the kitty with reverence. Thanks for letting us be a small part of the rescue efforts Estelle!

Ezra and Estelle helped put up Halloween decorations.

Chris, chef and baker, surprised us with a basket of his pumpkin scones and sourdough bread. YUM! Another weekend he brought brownies and muffins. Thanks for being on a baking spree Chris!

Chris played for us on my silly DI guitar; which after Rio from the Great Salt Lake Guitar company worked on it and with Chris playing it sounds WORLD CLASS.

James stayed up all night with Ollie working on a model for a proposal. Thanks James!

Besos!

This Way or That Way?

2011-10-12T13:53:00.000-07:00

Dear Ezra,

You are 16 months old. And you now have 16 teeth! Everyday our walks include playing a game called "This way? or that way?" You have a firm opinion and you're decisive at pointing the direction we will go. All along the way you collect sticks for the doggies, you rearrange fallen leaves, acorns, pinecones, and little rocks, and you look for ripening fruit in the branches of every tree. You point into the treetops and say "apple?" You've helped pick loads of apples from our back tree. You take a bite out of each and every one. Every apple we have has a tiny little Ezra bite. =) You notice everything and want to take it all in.

All the above pictures were taken yesterday morning. It's a slice of your every day!
I love you dear Sweet and Gorgeous Kiddo!

P.S. Aunt TamTam wants to know why her nephew is near the mouths of three large dogs. You know them as Farmer, his visiting cousin Gremil, and Flint who is owned by the owner of the local Asian market. Flint comes down from SLC every day to keep Farmer company. You'd rather be inside with them getting licked/mauled but I only let you pet them and feed them sticks through the gate.

Buoyancy, Tattletales, and the Utah Lake Monsters

2011-10-11T13:30:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a cue from my little sister TamTam who just wrote about WATER and specifically Lake Michigan here.

Twice in the last week, while Ezra is at Nina's house for his afternoon nap, Momma Mia kidnapped me for some buoyancy.

Some literal buoyancy. We launch our kayaks in the Provo river two miles above Utah lake. Winding our way down stream, past peoples' back gardens, through a Halloween magic land, and alongside trash. At one point two trees had fallen and completely blocked the river. We had to haul our boats out and relaunch a hundred yards further down.

Momma Mia always say she's a 12 year old in a now 63 year old body. =) And sure enough, in the lake she was paddling backwards and in circles, exclaiming after all the ducks, and generally being goofy.

Momma Mia used to kayak Provo river every week when the water is low and haul out trash collected in log jams (plastic lawn chairs! discarded Christmas decorations! water bottles!) but this time she tattletaled about the fallen trees and trash at the State Park office. They said they'd get the county to clean it up.

Further out, I was by myself.

At 37 I am as ancient as the waters which once reached across the entire Utah basin.

I am completely free.

To choose whatever.

(and I choose exactly the life I have now.)

Besos,
Quel

Whoops! Almost forgot to mention the Utah lake monsters as the title of this post suggests! We used to summon them as kids! (They are friendly monsters.) And after all these years they're still circling and lapping at my boat. =)

A Good Year in the Garden

2011-09-30T13:54:00.000-07:00

This year besides our rotational beds we planted five new fruit trees and lots of new perennial flowers and herbs. Here's the list of new plants: soap wort, mugwort, wild quinine, american arnica, meadowsweet, self heal, valerian, motherwort, vervain, wild yam, boneset, gopher purge, gray and green santolinas, veronica alpina, st. john's wort, yerba buena, dittany of crete, zagreb coreopsis, stonecrop, brigham's tea, asters, patchouli, honey eucalyptus, purple iceplant, speedwell goodness grows, delphiniums, dark towers penstemon, garden mums, black-eyed susan vine, old spice geranium, tansy, and i laid a brick circular bed for jersey knight asparagus, the wisterias are growing up their ladders! and we've had a booth with my mom a couple of times selling herbs at the Stadium Farmer's Market. It's been a good and fruitful year in the garden.

Last night the large dehydrator was filled with spearmint, chocolate mint, peppermint, pineapple mint, ginger mint, bergamot, and silver mint. When we woke up this morning the cottage smelled heavenly. I don't know if drying the different mints all together merges their flavors...we shall see.

P.S. The patchouli plant really smells like patchouli!

Bonus pics of other peoples' gardens:

This is Susan's newly planted edible front garden! All of it is non-poisonous just in case of grazing children. She just brought me a bouquet of flowers from here! Gorgeous! This pic was taken earlier this summer- now it's even more of a riot of color.

And a peek at this sculpture garden in a downtown neighborhood. The beds are tiers of rubber with grommets holding them together. Ezra and I visit this garden a lot as a destination because they're always doing something new. They've got the gardening fever!

For Aunt TamTam...

2011-09-29T13:40:00.000-07:00

...who lives across the country (Chicago) and recently requested that the blog have more Ezra pics.

For the fourth of July church services, with mini-Ezra doll made by Grandma Ch and Auntie Asch.

K, no more narration. But just thought i'd mention that Ezra is eating Brazilian in this photo. =)

Ezra, the cowboy, eating Brazilian again.

Obligingly, your sister

A Day with Dad

2011-09-29T12:31:00.000-07:00

Some weeks we don't get enough of Dada. (Aside: How do you know when someone is a total art nerd? You laugh every time someone is being called "dada". Oliver and I are very pleased that the word "dada" also means this.)

Here's Ezra with his basket of toys ready to go to SLC to hang in Ollie's world.

A critique/tour of downtown architecture.

Here everyone was discussing the pros and cons of skywalks at city creek. Denver is spending millions tearing down their skywalks because they were detracting from the downtown street front experience. Downtown is not the mall. (I was listening.)

Then we went to the LDS conference center and no one mentioned that it is modeled after Middle Eastern ziggurats. But I kept that information to myself which is remarkable. And really I don't know if it was intentionally modeled after an ancient ziggurat (surely it was!) Anyone know?

Still on the tour, after learning about the earthquake proofing at the Capitol building, we went to the real city creek.

We tagged along while Ollie was deep in discussion about green building.

Later, Ollie showed us a model of a proposal he's working on for the Temporary Museum of Permanent Change.

Then we went to one of Ollie's jobs. The back-to-school wreath on Andy's door is awesome! Love the repurposing of #2 pencils!

Andy and Dada working on renovation details.

I love my boys.

John Brown introducing Ezra to Lil Wayne on the ipod. The volume was really low and Ezra mostly just likes to wear headsets.

Here's Ezra back at home wearing my awesome headset to listen to a Youtube video about combing fleece from a pet angora rabbit. =)

Any day with Dada is a good day. I just thought of at least one more dada joke but you are spared.

Besos!

Perspective

2011-09-27T18:53:00.000-07:00

Maybe four times since E was born I've needed a REAL time out. Which means climbing into the treehouse and spying on the neighbors. Just kidding, I'm not spying, just noticing this tidy garden.

Just kidding! That's our front garden which I have memorized. I am really checking out this garden-of-delights. So pretty!

Yesterday during my very badly needed timeout I watched Ezra giggle and play with his uncle in the garden next door.

Another neighbor's voice floated up and then trailed off as he walked out of hearing distance..."You know I've come to realize a very important truth about Hawaiian haystacks..."

Important truths...Hmmmm...
(this is an abrupt transition into what is occupying my mind)

I've not come to realize important truths about adoption, just that I need perspective and that I am obligated as an adoptive mother to get a basic sense of it. I read blogs by adoptees, birth/first moms, and adoptive parents. It helps me learn universal themes? I'm not sure what I am learning but I know its my responsibility to listen.

If you are prompted by a need to understand adoption here are some entrance blogs:
Adoption Ain't for Sissies, check out this page. I really really like her. And HA! Turns out she's LDS.
Production Not Reproduction, she hosts open adoption bloggers.
The Declassified Adoptee

With enough time in the tree I feel a connection that renews hope.

I hope for clarity and guidance.

And I hope that next time I need a time-out it won't be all afternoon and all evening in the treehouse. Thanks to Nina and crew for watching Ezra for so long while i got myself together.

Besos!

A Look Around

2011-09-16T18:11:00.000-07:00

Waaaay out in the countryside, our friends' sociable pet sheep really wants to go inside.

In the garden Ezra insisted on helping fill the jar with flowers, heads first! =)

Ezra's long overdue first trip to our favorite place in southern Utah. Red cliffs, eagles' nests, and desert, oh my!

First fire early this spring...our little bandit was deLIGHTed by cooking on sticks over flames!

Part of Ezra's every day in the garden

2011-09-13T15:12:00.000-07:00

The garden is a sanctuary. Here you are immune to gloom. It is a bliss fest and a harvest feast.

Ezra's every day in the garden includes picking veg, feeding the ladies, and most of all DIRT!!!

Here Ezra and I just finished digging out potatoes.

Sometime Ez samples the produce and leaves a trail of bitten into fruit and veg. Haha!

xo.

September's flowers

2011-09-13T15:10:00.000-07:00

See the mullein flowers below? To treat ear aches (unless ear drum is perforated) gather 1/4 c of flowers, mince three garlic cloves, put in a clear jar and cover with oil. Put a cheesecloth over the top and put in a sunny window for about three days. Then strain and put oil in a ear drop bottle. K, Ezra has only had a mild earache that was treated with oregano oil and went away but we now have some mullein oil if anyone needs to borrow or just in case.

Above Ezra is standing next to our hedge of sweet goldenrod which i can't wait to use for dyeing wool!

A peek at the playroom/sewing room

2011-09-13T13:54:00.000-07:00

It was a feeling that wouldn't go away. There was something wrong with the flow of our house. And then when we discovered that Ezra slept through the night at Nina's house but not at home I googled "fengshui northeast bedroom" and received tons of information about how it was the worst part of the house to sleep in and would cause insomnia. (yup, for years we've tried to sleep in that corner of the house whether upstairs or down. not anymore!) We've changed everything! And it feels so much better.

here's a peek at some of the changes. The downstairs northeast room is now our playroom/sewing room.

(See the cowboy boots? They go back three generations to Poppy Charles. Ezra LOVES them.)

If you're having troubles sleeping in the northeast room i read there's tons of much simpler remedies that don't include completely changing everything.=)

Sweet slumber from here on out!

Besos!

Mushroom Hunting!

2011-09-13T13:28:00.000-07:00

Mushrooms everywhere! Plus AJ is home for a spell. So happy!
Besos!

Part of Ezra's every day

2011-09-13T12:58:00.000-07:00

Instead of "over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house we go" Ezra visits his Nina by going "down the path, along the hedge, around the corner to Nina's house we go!" We are so lucky to have his beloved Nina so close. By the time I finish singing the above little song we're there!

Ez sets off down our front path heading for Nina's. (His sweater vest was knit by Abuelita.)

Along the hedge...Ezra's shirt says "here comes trouble". What a misleading t-shirt! (haha!) Really it ought to say "here comes wonder and joy!" =)

Around the corner...Nina's house, a haven of art and love.

On this visit Nina was running an errand so upside down Ezra is clanking the gates to signal doggie Farmer.

Farmer kiss!

And that's a part of Ezra's everyday!

Besos!

Art Back Studios...Coming soon!

2011-09-08T14:48:00.000-07:00

Behind the cottage are two dilapidated garages but not for much longer! They are being renovated into our gallery and art studios. Construction is advancing at a quick pace because Oliver worked on it during his vacation and because James showed up to help. Help isn't an adequate way to describe what James did. He is a one man crew.

Thank you James.

And no pictures of the studios yet. But here are some random pics of James.

Without hesitation James will wear a southernwood crown if you ask him. This picture was from a recent lunch with new friends, a Jewish scholar from Sussex and an art journalist from the Chicago Tribune (not pictured).

James on a tall graffitied wall of political significance (the berlin wall for all ye youngsters).

James decided the bathroom needed a better view so reinstalled it in the garden.

I can't remember if I took this picture but I was there. This is at the "Superbowl" in Rock Canyon.

James modeling at an EDP fashion show.

James NOT falling asleep (ha!) while modeling in art class.

James dancing in a dust storm.

James, we love you. And we're so glad Ezra gets to grow up knowing you!
Besos!

How to support Provo's pioneer heritage...Move here.

2011-08-09T12:58:00.000-07:00

Dear Reader,

The above home is Dutch Colonial. It belongs to our beloved neighbors Harlan and Vuouko, who after 45 years are moving to a retirement community. Harlan used to hike the Y trail every day and even traveled to Nepal to climb mountains. Vuouko is Finnish and has humor and insight for everything. We will miss them tremendously. They have taken immaculate care of their historic home and garden. Their house is the kind of postcard worthy house you come home to for Christmas. For more details and pictures visit the KSL ad by clicking here. The square footage doesn't include the fact that they have a huge attic and full basement with ample open space. Real estate agents and investors need not contact them.

Our pioneer neighborhoods (especially Joaquin!) are full of creative types (screenwriters, documentary film makers, producers, artists) and within one block we have a Physician for the MTC and a Primary Children's Hospital pediatrician. It's also uncanny how many librarians and humanities professors live here! And neighborhood activists! And Rebecca and Jay whose opera singing and piano playing I could listen to all day!

Besos!
Quel

And if you buy this house enter the code "FrequentFlowers" at the check out and I will bring you seasonal flowers for your table. Haha.

A Look Around

2011-08-08T14:38:00.000-07:00

Look what I brought in from the garden!

A Provo's Farmers Market pottery vendor makes and sells nifty ceramic berry strainers- harvest and rinse. These were my last few raspberries until the fall varieties produce.

Charla and Leland brought us a great western puffball and some sponge mushrooms. YUM!

This is how we ate the puffball- sliced with eggs, oregano and thyme. The puffball came from Provo Canyon and the other ingredients were from the garden. Delicious! Thank you L & C!

The rest of the enormous puffball was sliced and dried and then put in jars for another day.

Here Liz is embroidering on a quilt for Tess.

O'lover and I dipped yucca blossoms into salted melted butter. Yum!

Flowers of the day

Besos!

For E

2011-08-08T14:32:00.000-07:00

During this last waning moon the kitchen's drying rack filled up with herbs. Including some lavender wands made while thinking of an amazing person E. From afar I think of her strength and phenomenal beauty and send her love.

Relations

2011-08-08T14:18:00.000-07:00

Oh my niece Scootch! She and her family were here for most of July (not long enough!) visiting on their move from Hawaii to Alabama. She's just as adorable and fun as ever! She sings beautifully and plays the ukulele. Plus thank my lucky stars she wants to be a fashion designer! Most of my sewing stuff is boxed away but we had enough fabric out for her to make one of her designs a reality!

Here she is wearing her original design skirt during what appears to be a low grade retaliation against her father (my brother) for whatever he was doing to provoke said retaliation.

I miss you Scootch! And your antics! Your written contracts and peace treaties! And I miss your patient, long suffering brother Bito too! You are a force with which to be reckoned!

All my love,

your auntie Quellie

Of the Evening and The Hood

2011-08-08T13:42:00.000-07:00

The evening primroses at night...

They remind me of those unique individuals whose beauty is revealed in a different season under a paler light. Give them the moon and they glow. My neighbor Harlan brings his grandkids over at dusk to watch the petals of the prim ladies burst open one by one.

I love my neighborhood! In one direction it's a short walk to shops and restaurants in downtown and in the opposite direction the Wasatch mountains tower over us. And this clinker brick house on my block? My friends just moved in!!! The lady of the house came over to borrow basil and lemongrass from the garden and then an hour later brought back homemade shrimp and eggplant curry!!! And Harlan? That I occasionally speak of? I brought him and his wife some flowers in a glass jar and they just brought back the jar filled with canned apricots. And my bestest Susan who is also my neighbor...She leaves me dollar bills taped in secret unobvious places ('cause she makes me laugh) and then harvests some garlic chives or whathaveyou. And Amy B of the wild heart? And Amy HS the mama bear? And the Ramseys with their homemade corn icecream and endless plums? And Johnna with her long skirts and high ideals? I HAVE THE BEST NEIGHBORS with the biggest hearts IN THE WHOLE WORLD!!! P.S. I could go on and on about every single one of my neighbors. They are ALL the most generous people one could ever know. My pops would have said they are salt of the earth but really they are every spice of the earth!
Besos!

A Look Around

2011-07-21T17:48:00.000-07:00

Mr. Holy Cuteness caught red-handed and red-faced in the berry patch.

Ezra knows his way around the garden.

Flowers with almost every meal.

First year we've had cherries! (and yes they are unsprayed and had worms, more protein as momma mia would say, haha.)

More flower power in salads.

Ezra prefers outside but he makes it very clear when he needs to go in for a nap or a snack.

Ezra's wearing vintage forty year old DiStefano/Smith clothing (from my family.)

our second herb spiral with a shade cloth overhead to protect the transplants.

Edible hibiscus, borage flowers, nasturtiums, purslane, calendula, hollyhocks, lemon cucumber, mint

wild lettuce flowers

See the woodpecker pecking at the bamboo sugar snap pea teepee?

xoxo!

Save our Yards and Stop the Pavement posters

2011-06-30T11:43:00.000-07:00

Images by Susan Krueger Barber. Thank you Susan!

Provo...Paved?

2011-06-29T00:20:00.000-07:00

A recent meeting in Brad and Susan's back garden.

The mayor was there.

As well as Sterling Beck, our council representative.

Also in attendance (not pictured) were municipal council members Sherrie Hall Everett (YAY!) and Cynthia Dayton (Yahoo!) Those two get cheers because they were the only votes against this:

What is that? A house in my neighborhood with its ENTIRE back yard newly paved. The new city wide ordinance doesn't require any green space around homes. Legally 40% of impervious surface can be used for parking and the rest can be paved for hopscotch! (But really people would be "accidentally" using the hopscotch area for parking, don't you think?)

Back to the three hour long meeting in Sus's garden...The Mayor encouraged my neighbors' passion and told us that most concerned citizens enthusiasm for a cause is "a flash in the pan".* Not us! There is too much at stake!

After the meeting Council member Sterling Beck asked a group of us to please redirect our energies into saving individual historic homes such as the beautiful Taylor house which is about to be torn down (ouch!) Sorry, but in the long run forever changing the character of our city by allowing parking lots at every residence is WAY MORE IMPORTANT and would especially grossly deteriorate our pioneer neighborhoods which have already been prey to bad policy for way too many years. Also, no one can understand WHY Sterling won't listen to his constituents. WHO is winning in this? Maybe the rental property manager who spoke during the public comment period at the council meeting? That one property manager guy is winning? over all the horrified neighborhood chairs and citizens who spoke during the public comment? (btw, sterling has supported some great causes in other votes, thanks sterling!)

If you would like to sign an online petition asking our council to reconsider please go here.

To read why Council member Sherrie Hall Everett (WOOT!) voted against the ordinance change go here.

And this is a movie made with love by the Joaquin neighborhood chair.

*And....us a flash in the pan? Nope.
Here are a bunch of my neighbors and their kids at the Children's Parade wearing our cool t-shirts, holding banners, throwing candy, and passing out fliers.

Let's keep all of neighborhoods and especially our at risk historic neighborhoods intact! Don't forget to sign the petition- and read all the petitioners' comments, so good! (also, after you sign the ipetition website asks for a donation but you can just click out of that window.)
xo,
quel

All above pictures were taken by Brad Barber except for the awful asphalt picture which was taken by wonderful Bonnie Callis.

These are the things...

2011-06-07T17:06:00.000-07:00

...that are bringing me good cheer.

Our neighbor Harlan telling us "You don't have a front and back yard; you have a front and back garden!" Oliver and I quote Harlan all the time to give each other little pick-me-ups.

My best friend James is so beautiful in this film!!! (I always think he's beautiful but it's hard to take your eyes off of him in this!) And...James ALWAYS brings good cheer.

Taking walks with Ezra while he's taking Curious George for a walk in his radio flyer.

Going shopping with Ezra downtown, a few blocks from home.

And...Ezra trying to make us laugh. Some of his jokes are: shaking his head while dancing, trying to reach into your mouth and grab your tongue (he laughs and laughs at this while we keep our mouths closed and sputter), and sitting in this five gallon crock and then popping out!

POP goes the Ezra!

Oh my gosh, I love this kid.
Besos to all!
Quel

A Look Around

2011-06-07T11:50:00.000-07:00

O'lover posted some lovely HDR pics of the treehouse on Urbanharvester. Finally more realistic pictures of the treehouse that show the deeply grooved bark, the glow of the twilight sky, and that register the depth of the stairs from one floor to the next. The treehouse is one of my favorite spaces and past pictures haven't done it justice. Click here to see more.

Sewed this pillow for a friend inspired by a vision she'd had. You can't see it well...but it's applique with variegated thread... and it's my new crush.

Ezra wearing his rainbow love hoodie and his horse diaper.

We had two separate groups of people bring us these GIANT oyster mushrooms found both in town and growing on a tree by the lake. We had it okayed by our favorite mycologist that they were edible. (Thanks Leland & Charla and Jordun & other pretty girl)

Ardell brought us these mushrooms that her clever sister found growing in mulch by a Gold's gym. They are morels and Oliver wicked up a delicious omelet with them.

Besos!
Quel

Mornings with Nona

2011-06-04T17:21:00.000-07:00

Ezra and nona playing ("he's a bird, he's a plane, he's super ezra!")

Ezra's nona (otherwise known as Momma Mia) visits almost every morning. Nona arrives at the top of the hour like clockwork. Because of her we wake up excitedly, hurriedly get dressed, and wait by the window to welcome her with waves and jumping up and down! While I relaxingly drink my morning yerba mate nona plays with Ezra. She gardens. And she sings Spanish songs.

Here she is triumphant from hacking away at the dense yucca jungle in the back garden to make room for new planting beds. I had already tried digging the yucca out but had given up! Nona grabbed a hatchet and had the yucca gone in a few minutes! People who know nona often describe her as a tornado, a bulldozer, a teenager. I just step back and watch the whirlwind!She says she gets her "umph" from growing up at the rowing club by the river of her hometown. Nona has a great butterfly stroke and can hold her breathe for laps!

We love you nona! Thank you for taking care of us!
Tu hija

Scenes from Ezra's First Birthday!

2011-06-02T13:45:00.000-07:00

Dear Ezra,

You have been around the sun, enjoyed all the seasons, taken your first steps, spoken your first words, and made many hearts joyful. You bless us daily with your humor! your sparkly eyes! and by being YOU. For your birthday we had a picnic, ate mile-high chocolate cake, planted a chinese apricot tree given to you by nina and a nectarine tree from nona. We had birthday flowers, cupcakes, and empanadas. You opened the loveliest handmade and thoughtful presents from loved ones. You ate the phone while wonderful Rachel talked to you from Hawaii. Dada played the guitar and we all sang.

Thank you for being born my amazing little sir.

All my love and best wishes for your second year,

your mommy

My Boys

2011-05-24T21:57:00.000-07:00

eating fennel from the garden

just chilling

Besos!
quel

Map of the Cottage Garden

2011-03-13T14:03:00.000-07:00

Below is a flash animated map of the Cottage plot. Move your cursor over the map legend for text and images.

map layout by Oliver with all flash elements/text/images put together by Miriam Card.

Messing with Hearts

2011-03-05T18:50:00.000-08:00

Anyone else experiencing holiday jet lag? Still accidentally singing Christmas tunes while making Valentine's hearts? The above two accent pillows might be just the beginning of my patchwork heart phase. They were both bridal shower gifts this past week.

Singing: it's beginning to look a lot like ~~Christmas~~ March! (I'll charge myself a fine every time I do this.)

A Glimpse

2011-03-05T18:27:00.000-08:00

Ezra chooses a book.
Hmmm...what's this book?
Ezra has a lot going on. He's mostly vertical these days preferring to get from point A to point B by traveling around the perimeter of a room while holding onto furniture than to crawl a more direct route. I've asked him to take it easy and rest on his crawling laurels but he's full steam ahead towards destination upright & walking...er, upright & careening might be a more apt description.

Bonus pics:

Besos!

Rally for Support and a Vision

2011-02-28T12:12:00.000-08:00

The above pictures are from the midnight vigil last night and the rally to support Tim DeChristopher* this morning. Peter Yarrow and daughter Bethany, Daryl Hannah with Ollie and his brother Andrew- wearing my fabric signs, and Chris and Ash some of the most brilliant minds I know.

As a child did you ever wonder how adults could ever tolerate slavery? concentration camps? Why didn't the adults speak up and not allow such atrocities? Now as an almost 40 year old adult myself I wonder about forty years from now..what will our grand kids think about our generation? Will they look back and think we were barbaric and short-sighted to allow so much environmental destruction? Historically we tolerated slavery on behalf of economic gain (who else was going to pick the cotton?) Now our economic gain is at Nature's cost. The air, water, and soil are contaminated. Public health is compromised. Huge regions of the Pacific Ocean are choked with plastic, there's all kinds of pharmaceuticals in our water, mercury in our fish - they advise pregnant and nursing women not to eat fish from Provo River and Utah Lake!- ok, i could go on about scary studies of frogs' endocrine systems being messed up as a warning to the humans who drink and bath in that water, etc. etc. but mostly I want to say looking back... The Civil Rights Movement happened rather quickly 30 years give or take, isn't that hopeful? Isn't that FAST? i'm sure it could have been much faster especially for those who were alive at the time and affected by the hatred but think of it- In one life time lynching mobs were made of so-called respectable citizens- fast forward to my generation where we can't even imagine the horror, right? How could we have been so evil? so wrong? And now Nature needs a movement- The Nature's Rights Movement- where currently corporations can claim constitutional personhood and sue for discrimination against anyone who stands in their way of making profit at any cost even if the cost is public health, nature's health. In the future everyone will think environmental ethics are core to every decision. And anyone who stands in the way of that beautiful future will be considered a barbaric half-wit. The future will judge us.

*I was outside the BLM offices in December 2008 with my little sign questioning to myself whether protesting ever makes a difference while Tim was inside actually doing something! bidding on lands to prevent drilling in sensitive areas of southern Utah that should remain pristine!

AND are you watching local coolness such as:
Our mayor's appointment of Don Jarvis to be his sustainability advisor!!!
and the LDS Church is going LEED!!!
and George Handley, a BYU Humanities professor known for his writings on LDS perspectives on the environment, just published Home Waters, a Year of Recompense on the Provo River!!!

Yahoo and Amen.

P.S. Dear reader, if certain above comparisons and thoughts bother you or need clarifications- talk to me in person, what a looooong conversation. Almost everyone has an interesting viewpoint, right? But fair warning if you want to argue: If you unleash a can of worms counterargument to mine I bet you anything that my can of worms can beat yours! Vermiculture, baby. haha!

Along the Wasatch Front

2011-02-23T04:12:00.000-08:00

Kennecott's Bingham Mine is the largest pit mine in the world. There is no other mine anywhere near this large, this close to this many people. Kennecott (Rio Tinto) is the largest source of heavy metal contamination to Wasatch Front air, water and soil. It is already by far the largest industrial source of air pollution along the Wasatch Front, responsible for about one third of the overall pollution in Salt Lake County, ten times more than the next industrial source, the Chevron refinery.

And now they're asking to expand- they're taking out an 8,ooo foot tall mountain. they're requesting that the state increase the legally permissible levels of air pollution (that we're not in compliance with anyway). The Kennecott expansion would provide jobs for only a few hundred employees at best. Meanwhile the air pollution impacts would be felt by about 1.8 million people and would curtail other economic and business activity, costing jobs with other potential employers. That is a grossly distorted risk/benefit ratio.

This is a post about the environment. But its also about how as parents every day we celebrate our children's thoughtful and polite behavior as well as disciple with an occasional time-out. We spend more energy making sure our kids don't burp in front of guests than we do voicing our opposition to MAJORLY CONSEQUENTIAL MISBEHAVIOR by those naughty boys in their slick suits proposing to take down entire mountains so they can get even richer while we suffer the consequences.

So please, take a few minutes to reign in these misbehaving boys by sending a public comment to

Cheryl Heying, Executive Secretary
Utah Division of Air Quality
PO Box 144820

Salt Lake City, UT 84114-4820

And seriously Utah Division of Air Quality? No e-mail address?

Our Cupids

2011-02-18T18:14:00.001-08:00

"You wanna piece of me, Valentine?"

Tough love has a new mascot. Doesn't the above cupid look like he could rend your heart in two?

And this sweet cupid, Protector of your heart...

...or maybe he'll just toss it.

Kiss, Kiss, Kiss, Two Hearts Kissing

Ezra making the two hearts *kiss* reminds me of how once upon a time Sus taught me to take the singles ward directory and make the photos of ward members kiss each other. So addicting! Hours of fun determining likely couples and arranging trysts between odd ones too!

Sus and I LOVE dressing up our babes and will likely do this more. But we feel for professional baby wranglers- this photo shoot lasted about one minute before Z and Ezra got bored, threw down their felt hearts, and waddled off.

xo!

The Birds and the Bees

2011-02-13T17:43:00.000-08:00

Today was warm and promising. Only 12 more weeks until the last frost. We checked on the honey bees- they're healthy! We hung out with the hens- they're lively! We looked under mulched leaves in the perennial beds and tiny green shoots are rising. And then Ezra and I laid out a blanket and soaked up the sun while studying the thatched ground.
Ezra has a taste for grass. ack! It gives me hope that he'll like yerba mate when he's older. heehee. (nope, i'm not feeding him grass in this picture but taking it away. =)And then the camera man posed with me.
And this was Ezra's reaction. Feeling left out mr. ez?
So we had a group hug. =) Ollie and I ate some Valentines dark chocolate and Ezra contentedly played with the box.

Last Valentine's we had no idea our son was waiting right around the corner...We wouldn't know about him for another five days.

And now my wish for all who read this. May delightful surprises and adventuresome bends in the road await us all! And may all our comings and goings be punctuated with hugs and kisses. and chocolate. and candlelight.

besos,
quel

Spruced

2011-02-13T12:22:00.000-08:00

For Valentine's weekend we took our lovey cherub to Park City. We had an early lunch at the Spruce Restaurant (owned by the folks from the famous Spruce of San Francisco) located in the Waldorf Astoria. By the time we left the place was packed and everyone there had something adoring to say to the cherub. (By the way, I didn't crochet the owl hat. Nina bought it at the Beehive Bazaar. But i knit the surprise jacket designed by Elizabeth Zimmerman.)
O'lover has a history with Spruce. When they first started he met with their head chef and sous chef to connect them with local farmers. We were eating Provo's Clifford Family Farm food in Park City! O'lover also designed Spruce's wine cabinets.
As well as their fireplace, etc.
After lunch we visited Chimayo Restaurant- where six years ago we had our first magical dinner as newlyweds!
And then we reminisced at the Washington School Inn where we spent our first night of our epic three stage honeymoon.
Love is in the air!
xoxo to all you love birds!
quel

Our family

2011-02-06T21:48:00.000-08:00

There's much talk of ancestors, blood, and genes on gritty pretty. There always has been. I love and honor our fore-parents. ALL OF THEM. Including Ezra's blood. Especially his. Someday I will tell him that before we adopted him, his birth family "adopted me"- in a way too sophisticated to be reflected by the law of the land but real none-the-less. Rachel feels like we're related. I've felt that way since i was 13 and first moved to Provo and saw Rachel's aunt, my longest time friend. There are ties that I sense without knowing why or how. They are priceless.I also felt that mysterious and immediate love for Oliver. Love strong enough to transfer from another sphere to here, where we get to be a family, going on a walk. I push the stroller and Ollie plays the guitar. And Ezra is the reason we are outside on a freezing cold day in the first place. He is an outside kind of guy which is very good for his homebody parents. The plastic rain gear is on the stroller because the wind was arctic that day.
Ezra is wearing a tam-o-shanter that has been in Ollie's family for a very long time. And the sweater I started before he was born. I accidentally made the sleeves and body for a 6 month old and the plackard neck yoke for a 12 month old. Oops.
And here Ezra is wearing another pair of longies. He is smiling so big because his Nina (Ollie's mum) is behind the iphone camera. He LOVES her.
signed, family by birth, family by choice...we're all...family.
Besos!

Under her wing

2011-02-06T20:03:00.000-08:00

I've inherited a few quilts hand stitched by my ancestors. Incidentally I've also inherited some of their tiny clothes and holy toledo i cannot fit in any of their slips or dresses. I might as well be Maxwell Klinger when I try to put their dainty lacy things on! Back to quilts! The stitches are so tiny and even that in comparison my stitches look positively primeval. Help was wanted 'cause how do people make such tiny stitches?!

Enter Ollie's great uncle's red hot girlfriend. Ruthie is an experienced, talented quilter who still quilts by hand!!! She has a large house with many bedrooms and on each bed there are at least ten precious quilts. Calendars have been made using photos of her quilts!
This is a dresden pattern. Ruthie gave me a template and outlined the quilting basics. Here's a close-up. I love this pattern because one of my ancestors' quilts is very similar.
Above is an example of "shadow quilting". LOVE the texture.
Oliver's favorite was the wedding quilt- he is fascinated by celtic knots.
Ruthie gave me a quick lesson on english paper piecing. Above is a grandmother's flower garden.
My heart remains most loyal to thrifty-use-up-your scraps patchwork. I forgot the name of the above diagonal type of binding- guess I need another lesson!

Below is a yo-yo quilt, another great way to use stash fabric.
And Ruthie gave me a hands-on yo-yo lesson.
My yo-yo was not nearly as nice as hers. Practice! Practice!
Upon leaving Ruthie gave Ezra a gorgeous, colorful Noah's Arc quilt- of course all hand-stitched.
Generous!
signed,
lucky to be learning at the knee of a master

more crossing fingers

2011-02-06T19:18:00.000-08:00

For a heavenly month the scent of lemon blossoms filled the air and greeted everyone who came to the cottage.
With a little help from a clean paint brush I played the part of a bee visiting every stamen.
And lo and behold the lemons are growing! There are over thirty tiny babies on this tree.
Not to count my lemons before they hatch but the prospects of homegrown lemonade sweetened with homegrown stevia are looking really good over here.
besos!

crossing our fingers

2011-02-06T15:22:00.000-08:00

Momma Mia just sent this video collage of the city from whence my family hails.

AND I knew that Ollie, Ezra, and I may have an opportunity to live in Argentina (so soon! crossing fingers), but i thought in Buenos Aires. But today Ollie corrected me and said we'd be moving to Santa Fe which is just across the river from MY FAMILY!!! my homeland!!!

signed,

me, my blood, and pile of genes are going NUTS with happiness!!!

Years ago when we moved to USA we had to help momma mia with her english (we still have to help her with her english- hahahaha!). now ezra will learn and have to reteach me castillano, spanish!!!

random fact, did you know Viggo Mortensen grew up in and went to private school in Argentina? yup.

Buried Treasure

2011-02-02T17:46:00.000-08:00

No we aren't cashing in on some mineral rights. We are getting to know the cottage inside out and even underground. Our main water line had to be replaced. Ouch. We lost our most mature rhubarb patch and some lavender and now there are huge tire tracks throughout our yard. I had to halt the tractor from running over three of our dwarf fruit trees. (Stop in the name of love!) But the guys promised this would never have to happen again in our life times!
The water had been turned off for a couple of days. Never have I so longed to get back to chores! Piled up dishes! debris dust everywhere! and our backed up laundry -especially the cloth nappies!! It was an emergency!!!

Ollie laughed when I started sweeping and said "most shortcutters sweep their mess under the rug." Not me!I am almost caught up with cleaning. Astounding how a little hiccup will set you back.

Wrapped in Generations

2011-01-27T15:18:00.000-08:00

Three generations constructed Ezra's outfit. My dear Abuelita knit the shoes years ago. Momma Mia knit his hat and sweater. And the soakers are by me.

Ezra loves the sounds he makes when he wears this ensemble. The hat has tassels with bells, the buttons on the sweater are bells, and the shoes have laces with bells too. Ezra shakes his head when he sees new people so they can notice the bells jingling. I think that's very thoughtful of him!
Momma Mia made the pattern up. In fact, she never knits from patterns; she knits by sight. Is that like playing music by ear? Notice the cables up the sleeves. The sweater is roomy enough to fit Ezra next year too.

Our boy is eight months today! But in these pictures Ezra is still a young seven months. Technical difficulties are preventing the uploading of recent pics. So just imagine him with even chubbier cheeks -I don't think the hat fits now.

xo,
quel

The Quilt Back!

2011-01-13T11:07:00.000-08:00

The back is the best part! The stitches stand out against the cream colored flannel backing and what made sense as little pictures and designs on the front of the quilt turn into an abstract work of art on the back. I love the implied topography created by meandering lines."Implied topography?" did i go to art school? (yup. once upon a time...)

Amy's perfect, tiny stitches for the swan.
With this post the quilt has been documented enough for it's REAL use as a drag through the dirt/mud/Linus-take-it-wherever blanket. There is nothing in the cottage that is archival and that's the way i like it! Dirt and time, washing and wearing out, stains, it all makes things more beautiful.

wow. that was very ashes to ashes dust to dust!

xo,
quel

The Quilt Front

2011-01-11T06:34:00.000-08:00

The hand outline is from a tracing of Ezra's hand. Can you spot the chicken with the hula hoop and the bird dreaming of a raspberry?
The quilt was pieced from a little bit of every scrap of fabric available including fancy cloth napkins embroidered by nona, abuelita, and momma mia when she was a girl, Ollie's corduroy pants, an 80 year old dish towel from Argentina. Most of the embroidery floss used was inherited from my great Aunt Margaret (on my dad's side).
The lyrics to Ezra's name song are embroidered in an ancient script no longer taught in schools called "cursive". haha! It has been so long since I wrote in cursive that i almost forgot it! Maybe by the time Ezra tries to read this cursive will be a secret code.

The Quilt Stitchers

2011-01-10T21:58:00.000-08:00

For the weeks that his baby quilt was stretched out on the quilting frame Ezra was always seeking to sit in the middle of it. This is Grandma Lil holding onto Ezra in one of his many quilt diving attempts.

Everyone visiting the cottage was invited to embroider on the quilt.
Rachel was one of the first to stitch but hadn't seen it done.
This was one of the many late nights spent covering it with thousands of stitches. Embroidering can suck you in and many hours pass before you realize it's morning and you have to carry your sleeping brother home.
Thanks to all the people who have worked on Ezra's blanket. Though the quilt is in use you can still work on it if you please (Aunt Tam!!)

Stitch Masters besides me and Ollie:
Cheli, Bonnie, Charles, Connie, Rachel, Ascha, Katie, Lillian, Tess, Paul, Andrew, Jessie, Sam, Lauren, Travis, Eden, Chris, Amy, Tabitha, Swan, Ash, Cherilyn, Sus, Edie, Gene, Rich, Meg, Richie, James, Brian, Celeste, Sophie, Bess, Lucy, Marcie, Dave, April, Zendina.

Goodnight! Tomorrow there will be photos of the actual quilt!

P.S. Ollie has now read two books on embroidery and really is a master in the making!

On Mothering

2011-01-09T10:48:00.000-08:00

People ask all the time how the mothering is coming along. Um, I LOVE IT! I'm tired! The love feels both familiar and foreign. But no matter how forewarned i had no clue what TIRED was until mothering. I got through December on the wings of eggnog. And the months before that? how did we get by? Mercy.

My heart feels like it has exploded open. I am changing. All summer while Ollie was seeing spiders i saw crickets jumping at us from everywhere. (no, the eggnog wasn't spiked, dear reader, notice what animals you see the most and look up their symbolic meanings.) Mothering makes you EVOLVE. and when i feel small and scared at having my heart so open, there are about ten people who coach me through the adoption/mothering journey. Sus is the biggest support. She listens and SUPPORTS. Ezra and I are very lucky for all the kind and wise souls who nurture us. (Thanks nona, nina, grammie. your love and baby tending is of the highest caliber!)

Adoption/mothering...i was so naive! and certainly still am naive. I am learning and feeling humbled every day.

Before ezra was born i would cry at the thought of his feelings ever getting hurt. May his life be wondrous, beautiful, and EASY. I hang onto what Ollie tells me, Give Ezra the space to be strong.
I thought I would have tons of rules, no tv, no sugar, etc. like how i was raised. It turns out we have guidelines instead of rules. Ezra has seen Jennifer Grey dance A LOT on Dancing with the Stars. And has been patient while i signed up on abc.com to vote for her. And he enjoys ice cream. My guideline that has held steady? I am so HAPPY when he wakes up in the morning and from naps! I've waited so long for him--when he opens his eyes the happiness and joy is immediate. (Except for in the middle of the night, when my eyes are slits.)

These photos are from yesterday's visit with Rachel and the girls.
Mothering is amazing.
A toast to ALL mothers by every name (custodial, birth, natural, bio, adoptive) everywhere!
xoxo,
quel

Two Things

2011-01-09T10:35:00.000-08:00

First, it's AJ's birthday!! oh how we miss you AJ of beauty and kindness! and we LOVE you! and can't wait for your talented self to return from your long hiatus in the virgin islands of clean air and warm breezes!! xo to infinity my dearest!!!

Second, Ezra's Saint Nick hoodie! Sewn by me out of vintage flannel (1940s) purchased from The Cat's Cradle antique shop on Center Street. (Thanks Gary!) The unionsuit is from nina and poppy. And those adorable baby wellington boots? a gift from zendina.
and a baby who can't see? yikes and oops, apologies to my patient little sir. isn't that hoodie needing a puff ball at the end?
signed,
for the first time in five Christmases we didn't spend December doing construction projects yet our home feels more like a HOME.

He likes it! plus a christmas miracle!

2010-12-27T10:22:00.000-08:00

Dear Ezra, You LOVE Christmas!We had an owl theme this year.
You helped us open all the gifts.
And Sus really made our Christmas when she gave us a felt mushroom house!
And our little family in felt!And the miracle...a sugar baby watermelon we harvested unripe was ready for eating it's delicious juiciness on Christmas day! Watermelon on Christmas day?! Better believe it!
Feliz Navidad! y besos grandotes!
tu madre
p.s. you turned 7 months old today!

Life is a Blur

2010-12-21T12:42:00.000-08:00

On Sunday night a small group of us sang our hearts out for our beloved Provo Tabernacle. A caroling to the tabernacle had been scheduled and then canceled due to rain but 11 of us went anyway. We love our tabernacle!!O'lover brewed tannenbaum ale from fir needles and lacto-fermented some of our raspberries. We opened up our fizzy drinks late at night to kick-off the full moon lunar eclipse/solstice. That tannenbaum ale was yuletide in a bottle! Delicious!!
And at about 1 am we started singing Oh Tannenbaum. Every one pulled out their iphones for the lyrics. And then more caroling during which I sneaked away and went to bed. Sleeping while there's a beautiful party in the next room is the best!!
And at 6:30 a.m. this is what we woke up to...a wintry cottage!
Merry Merry!
signed,
life is flying by and many of our pics are a blur; that fits, right?

Academy Advent

2010-12-20T22:43:00.000-08:00

Our glittery advent calendar.
Recognize the Provo Academy library? Remember how it was such a fight to save it from demolition? I used to volunteer there as a high school student on Saturdays as part of a clean up crew. Oh the stories I could tell of bizarre things we found in there! A 10 foot tall mural of a tonka truck in one of the ballrooms. (??) A ziplock bag within another bag full of a liquid that looked like blood (??) Weird things happened in that building until at last it was saved! In my version of the academy there are angels and wise people and santas! A whole merry host!
Here are some peeks behind the doors.

Tragic

2010-12-17T11:44:00.000-08:00

As of twenty minutes ago active flames were melting the stained glass windows of the Provo Tabernacle, just a few blocks from the cottage. We are in shock and mourning this devastating loss. With a steady stream of traffic downtown it seemed like a funeral procession.
signed,
with love and hope that she can be rebuilt

Lately and Making Stuff

2010-12-16T12:15:00.000-08:00

Our dear long time friends Tabitha and Dave are engaged!!! Hoorah!! These two have a lot of excited fans!
They are the most heaven made couple! And I'm not just saying that 'cause Dave is a rocket scientist and Tabitha is getting her PhD in astronomy; they really are wonderful together.

Another top headliner is that Mr. Holy Cuteness is sitting and moving around! Here he is sitting while Ollie rakes more leaves and I make a garland to wrap around the porch.
Here's the garland which is made of branches pruned from one of our junipers.

And here is Ezra being blinded by the flash (sorry little sir!) while scooting backwards until he was lodged under the piano bench. But atleast he had his bob the builder book while he was stuck under there.
Marmalade Baby, a knitting genius!, has been teaching me how to knit longies. Here's Ezra wearing my first pair of alpaca softness.
Our Christmas tablebloth purchased from the thrift store didn't stay our tablecloth for very long.
I made a ruffle skirt out of it to wear to Ollie's office party. When Ollie asked me what we were now going to use as our tablecloth I had no idea.

But the very next day we found a box of goodies sent from our very generous friend, Miss Swiss Miss, who has been teaching dance to Burmese kids in Thailand. Amongst all that goodness was a ton of mosquito netting for the treehouse, silk, and woven cotton. As well as our new tablecloth!!
Here 'tis.

signed,
better make haste and baby proof the cottage!