Bits and Pieces

I wish I had something finished to share, but progress is sooo slow. My daughter and I had gotten into a pretty good rhythm in the spring, which allowed me to occasionally squeeze some of my own projects into the day. Then her brothers were home all summer, and we all did lots of cool things together, and when we weren't, she still had them to play with her, and now... now, my day has no cracks into which to squeeze anything. We might eventually get back to a rhythm that allows me to do some things alongside her, rather than right with her. Probably right before school gets out in the spring...

Meanwhile, though, I have nothing much to share. The Girl's Best Cardigan only needs the second sleeve and some itty bitty buttons. It took nearly an hour and a half to cast off the entire edging with the picot cast off! This is what I work on in the evenings, although one evening I took a break and did this.

This is a pinecone from the Split Stitch pattern, and it means I've begun working on some Christmas presents. This is on linen, and I plan to make little sachets with some pine needles added inside. I'll add a ribbon for hanging, too.

All week I've wanted to get to the fabric sitting on my ironing board. Finally, finally, I managed to cut it, and this, sadly, feels like a Great Achievement.

We have toddler pants (the flower print), jammie pants for my 7yo (the red; see below because it's so cute), and material for the girl's caterpillar/butterfly pillowcase. Now I just need to sew, which is easier said than done. My 7yo says the noise keeps him up, and I can't get to it during a weekday at the moment, and our weekends have been crazy lately. Maybe next weekend? Anyway, this is the fabric I'm using to make new jammie pants for my sensitive-to-sewing-machine-noise 7yo:

How cute is that?!?! Robots. On sale at Fabricworm. It just screams 7yo Boy to me. (To him, too; he approved it before I ordered it. I believe in having the kids pick out their own yarn/fabric/whatever, since it helps guarantee happy recipients.)

In other news, it was my birthday this past week. I requested, and received, a tiara, a proper metal and crystal one, not plastic. My daughter is modeling it here (hair wet from a bath), because if I modeled it, you'd get a close-up view of all my grey hair.

I wore it to parent-teacher conferences, which were on my birthday. Then I wore it the next day, too, because it's sparkly and pretty. I think I'll wear it a lot. I would have worn it to the zoo on Friday but it was drizzling a little and I didn't want my tiara to get wet.

And finally, Pam, a fellow knitter in London, did the most lovely thing this week. A couple of weeks ago she emailed to say she was planning a trip to Normandy. She remembered I'd written (on my old blog) about visiting my great-uncle's grave in the American Cemetery there and wondered if I could send his name and where his grave was located, and if they visited, she'd bring flowers. She did indeed visit. I woke up to an email this morning with pictures of his grave with the flowers she'd brought. It made me tear up. Her post about her visit is here.