Projects

We had many a project going on at our house this weekend. Bryce has been building the doll cradle for Molly's birthday (tomorrow, eek!), and the last coat of oil is drying on it now. It isn't finished in these pictures, but I'll post more once I can get some good light. He didn't use any metal hardware at all. It's beautiful.

And I finished the blanket and pillow to go inside. I'm happy with my first real solo project, although I will admit this picture hides the totally messed up corners (if anyone can show me how to do the mitered thing, I'd be grateful) and the weird spot on the pillow where I closed it off by hand. But still. It was easy and I had fun. I used this tutorial for the blanket.

Lastly, there is a tree house going up in our backyard. It is in the very early stages right now, but I've seen the plans. It's a behemoth, complete with a hanging bridge and a zip line. I'm hoping the kids survive.

I'm Cooking: The other night I made Potatoes Au Gratin with a new recipe. Kind of time consuming, but damn. They were good. I used the Dubliner cheese again, and halved the recipe since it is enormous. Also covered the dish with foil in the beginning so it wouldn't brown too much. Yum!

The Last of the Domestic Arts

When my mom was here last week, she gifted me with a sewing machine. My mom made all of our Halloween costumes when we were kids (among other things) and is generally awesome, and my sister took up sewing, and a ton of my friends are into it, but for some reason I've been putting it off for years. I dreaded even having to sew a button back onto a shirt. No longer though. And I'm excited. I'm not exactly a crafty person, and I foresee blankets and sewing patterns in my future. But also maybe a poodle skirt for Molly, and I can't wait. This is a hard place for clothing (I mean, really, the best place for clothes is the grocery store or possibly Costco), so at least Molly will get some cute things. Bryce is also happy that I can now (maybe) patch up his work pants instead of just throwing them away.

So, my mom and I bought a pattern and made a little dress for Molly, and it turned out adorable! It's fleece and comfortable and she loves it.

It's a good start.