Actually, that's a fairly good-natured face-making. The quilt is moving along, and it's nice to have someone to hold up the chained strip flags for a little photo as I go.

The above helper also lost a front tooth today. It has given her a lisp, which is funny because she's always had really good diction for her age. It's also funny because it brings up questions about whether or not the Easter Bunny will meet the Tooth Fairy in the middle of the night. Who can say? I suspect that at this point it's more of a funny idea than an actual wonder.

I have been loving all of moonstitches' in-progress shots of her quilt-to-be. The progress of quilts, particularly block quilts, is so interesting because while the beginning might be simply beautiful by itself, the mystery of the placement, arrangement, and size of the growing and final quilt is fabulous. I guess I love a reveal.

I'm starting a quilt. (See?) I've also been working on Beebs' quilt enough that I have sore hands. I don't think I will ever hand quilt another bed quilt, but I am glad I am hand quilting this one.

This picture is just so I can show how how much Beebs' cat loves her. She likes to sleep on her neck, especially when Beebs hasn't been feeling well. Oh, terrible cuteness.

It's just very minor rule breaking. Marzipan is so cute!

World Market is going out of business and they had marzipan leftover from Christmas cheap. We all love the marzipan, so maybe I'll go and buy some more. It's a funny sweet because they look so different from each other and so fruity, but they all taste almond. But, it's still hard to get the mind to understand that. Like, I didn't want to eat the banana one at first because I think that fake banana is one of the grossest flavors. But they all taste like almond.

This afternoon Eva and I played MadLibs. It was her first MadLibs experience. They can be pretty hilarious--I forgot that. Hilarious to me was that if you ask Eva to name two female celebrities, she names Miley Cyrus and Judy Garland. In the MadLib, they interviewed each other.

So, I'm feeling like I keep missing things by not paying attention. It's such a bummer. Like Mini Swap, and mobile swap, and probably other fun swaps I haven't read about yet. Virtual Quilting Bee looks like awesome fun. I am really looking forward to seeing each person's quilt. I think Mama Urchin really nailed the whole procedure. Having the person whose month it is send fabrics out so that everyone else knows what they're aiming for is genius. I'd like to play that game. Maybe I'll start one?

We went to Jersey where our family lives for a week at Christmastime. It was an especially nice visit. This year both my mom and a dear old friend are relocating to the area where I grew up, where my dad and Elie's mom already live. That fact made it extra hard to leave and return to Illinois. It felt like all my people were just starting The Big Party but I had to go. It's easy to think of the great way that life could be if I lived there: there would be casual weekend lunches, and grandparents who could make it to school programs, and all those people who know the back story. And less stillness.

When Elie and I were getting ready to move out here & I was feeling apprehensive, my mother told me when her mother told her, which is that sometimes you have to get out from under your big family (Elie and I both have these) in order to let your little family grow. I think that's been very true for us, and we've grown bushels. I really do like the place I'm in now, our funny little routine, and our dear friends. It's a bona fide life. I like the stillness we have because that's when I get to do this and stitch a little that. It's a good home.

An speaking of homes, Elie did this to the kitchen today. Move over sketchy in-kitchen powder room with louvered doors, hello pantry.

Love you. Have a coffee by the beach for me!

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...my mother made this advent calendar. We had one very similar to this one in my house growing up, but I think this calendar came first. I think it was the prototype. This new old calendar of ours was sent to us by my Aunt Kathy. (It arrived very specially on December 1st.) My mom made it for her when I was very small, at least, I think I was alive. If not, I'm inventing some memories. I am to touched that she sent it for Eva to enjoy (which Eva does), and I love having things that my mom made from way back when.

Each of the big felt numbers is on a pocket flap. On each day of advent, you open a flap, pull out the ornament that is inside, and pin it to your tree. By the 25th, your tree is completely decorated! The one I grew up with was slightly different--it had a bound edge, a skinnier tree, and chain stitched numbers on the flaps instead of felt.

Things this advent calendar makes me remember

1. Some of the ornaments clearly came from our church bazaar. The church ladies were very nice.
2. My mom could spend a lot of time making ornaments for the bazaar and still be smiling. I wonder if another little girl I know feels this way.
3. My mom made a third one of these for my cousin who lived in (very cool) Florida
4. It was raining when we went shopping for the ornaments to go inside my cousin's tree, and we went to a crowded store where we couldn't touch things. My sister was being a pill. I probably was too, but I don't remember that.
5. One of the ornaments on this tree is a walnut made to look like a strawberry. I remember this craft in the works. I didn't like walnuts.
6. One year my mom made snowmen out of socks for the bazaar, but she accidentally dyed them pink in the wash

Sending you lots of warm fuzzies, and a big thank you to everyone who has popped into my shop!

If I had called this post "full-a sheet" would you have had any idea what I was talking about? Just some corny, foul-mouthed wordplay.

Somebody should probably tell me that birthdays aren't like weddings, and that the within-one-year-equals-OK etiquette doesn't apply here. These bags were both birthday presents for my sisters. I won't say when their birthdays were.

The gift idea started with the gray wool bag for Lizzie. Some seven years ago, Lizzie had a roommate who was particularly bad about borrowing and ruining clothing. The roommate borrowed this gray sweater and washed it, shrinking it to an unwearable size. At the time I thought I might one day hook rugs, so Lizzie gave it to me to cut into strips. I never made a rug, but I started seeing people doing cool bags with felted sweaters, and I decided that that was what I should do with Lizzie's sweater. Nearly two years later, I've actually done it!

I cut off the sleeves and the hood, and I shaped the body a little. I used a vintage sheet for the binding and the lining. I think it's really cute and I hope she likes it.

Jocie's bag is similar, but without the history. It comes from a sweater I found at a garage sale. It was J Crew and it came pre-felted, so you know that was someone's worst day. There is nice depth of color in the wool. The bag has a sheet lining too, and I really like its braided, knotted handles.

I really want my sisters to play scrablicious with me on facebook, but so far no luck. Jocie said that it made me the biggest dork ever. Online scrabble with my offline friends--what wrong with that!? Possibly it's the fact that I only just joined facebook, and only so I can play scrabble?

It's been a bit of a week, if you know what I mean. Things have been very very busy. Not sad or terrible busy, but happy busy, but just the same, I've been occupied. Last weekend I was away for a work conference, so that kind of threw things off, plus Brownies started this week, etc.

I'm still working on finishing a few projects. There's a good bit of hand sewing left, so until I can share all that, here's some really good mail I've received recently.

First is the above postcard sent to me for winning a comments give-away at Pyglet Whispers, Isn't it cool? I like to think of the ladybug as having stern/nonplussed eyebrows, Because you know, ladybugs have eyebrows. Thanks, Dani!

Second is the gigantic pile of scraps I received from Erin through the Scrap Swap. Let me tell you, that lady has some beautiful scraps, and she was very generous about sharing them. Thanks, Erin!

I arranged the scraps I sent her in "rainbow order" before I sent them. Looking at them, I guess I could do a little mini purl, last minute patchwork color wheel with them. That would be fun. I'm thinking that Erin's scraps are going to go toward some kind of chain quilt on a white background. Pretty.

It's about 10:00 here and I've only just finished putting Beebs to sleep. i let her stay up late with a movie and then she had a terrible time falling asleep because earlier in the day we saw a hearse go by and I decided to teach her the corresponding song. Great idea, Mom. It was just enough to produce the kind of scared, tired bedtime sad that requires your mother to sit next to you until you fall asleep.

I look forward to this holiday because I stay home while others go to work and I do really domestic things for my little family. I also like the idea of looking back at the last year, noting growth, and looking for improvements. I like that it's so internal.

Today I:

• Made challah, sweet with buckwheat honey and rasins
• Wore a full apron, both out of necessity and for cuteness
• Made Elie's mom's noodle kugel. It has copious amounts of butter, sour cream, cream cheese, and eggs. Rich.
• Sewed the last bits on a couple of projects that have been waiting.

A year ago, I made myself a cotton washcloth as a way to practice knitting patterns, something other than straight knitting and purling. I didn't do anything with the washcloth though, and it stayed in the knitting basket in the den until last week when I finally brought it up to the tub. Eva saw it on the tub edge and got all sorts of unexpectedly excited about it. It was as if the day had finally come, the one she'd been waiting for, the one where I'd used the knitted washcloth! She touched her fingers to the bumpy texture and then pulled her hand away when she saw I'd noticed. As if I wouldn't let her touch my washcloth?!

But see, Eva has always been a lover of texture. I forget this sometimes. She can't help but feel things and she loves soft things. At the fabric store, she wants to rub her cheek on all the fabrics, and I have to ask her to hold back, just a little (a lot of she's just had a lolly-pop). I think that's what was going on with the very special washcloth. I get it. It does feel pretty cool when it's all wet. It's way nubblier and stretchier than your average washcloth.

So this is Eva's very special washcloth. How often do I get to give my little someone something that means so much but takes so little? Oh, that sounds so parent-y. Don't parents do that every day? Maybe what I mean is, I often like to think up complicated, special projects that my girl might like, but in this case I was able to make her something simple I knew she wanted, and that felt nice.