Moving

Hi Everyone,

I'm experimenting with my blog in Typepad, so you can meet me over there at http://bibliosophybooks.typepad.com. I hope you can change the address in your bookmarks and come visit at the new home!

Bley

Strawberry Jam or Bust

It was almost a bust. My very first canning experience, with strawberry jam and I was working against the clock and against Baby's naptime. In the canning directions, they constantly emphasize that you need to move *quickly* italicized, which raised my blood pressure because even the letters look like they're running! It was pretty fun, not as complicated and serious as the instructions made it seem, and I was feeling confident until my jars came out of the water bath. Those of you have canned before know that the true measure of success is the popping sound you hear once they come out of the water to let you know the jars have sealed properly. The first jar popped after about a minute, and I thought jars 2, 3, and 4 might be a loss, but no, after about 10 more minutes I heard a second pop, while I was nursing Baby and got so excited that he stopped eating to look at me with big eyes like I was losing it! (Sorry, run-on sentence...) Then he started laughing at silly Mommy. In the end, all four sealed properly, and we've already gone through almost a pint of strawberry jam, yum! What a fun experience, and I am looking forward to canning tomato sauce in the fall, and of teaching Baby about canning science in years to come. If anyone has some great recipes you use for canning, pass them on to me please!

Green Goodness

I've become fond of various shades of green this year; in my garden and my fiber choices. This lovely peppermint green yarn, Koigu KPM from Loop Yarn in Philly, is destined to be Glee, designed by Zephyr Style. It's a top down knit, with a small gauge, and the yarn is luscious, and such a treat to knit with.


My basil, a little darker green, but still with a hint of spring about it, became a very simple pesto, for pairing with pastas and salads throughout the summer. I'm quite pleased with my harvest so far, and doing my best to keep all the shades of green in my garden from going brown!

Belated

I'm catching up a little bit posting projects from the spring. This is an apron I made from a vintage tablecloth. Using the vintage linen was pretty tricky, because there were stains in a lot of areas, but they were light stains, so in the end I decided to just ignore them because the fabric was too beautiful not to use.

I have more of the tablecloth and plan to make another apron for my SIL; it was her grandmother's tablecloth.

squirmy

Is "squirmy" a word? Not sure, but my little guy was thwarting all attempts at pictures this morning in his new Oliver and S playsuit. (You can see how interested he was in the camera, though.)


This cute striped fabric I got super-cheap, the piping was a remnant from an apron, and the buttons are vintage, from my collection. Perfect for an 87 degree day here in the humid Midwest. And it's only June 1st! We're having some portraits taken in July; I'm leaving frame-able pictures to the professionals, at least until he's a little older!

I wasn't an art history major for nothing

DH and I are somewhat wary of all the baby toys out there; we neither want to clutter our house with a bunch of stuff, nor give our baby things that will overstimulate him. So, I've been making some simple toys, including these art cards. We've learned that Baby loves to look at pictures and "read" books, so I made him a set of laminated cards of great art. This is the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist set; perhaps there will be some Renaissance and ancient art in years to come! Baby seems to like them, although his greatest interest in them right now is to try to eat them:)

Garden Starts

I'm trying again with some modest vegetable gardening this year. Everything always grows really well for me until about mid-July when it gets really hot, and I forget to water everyday:) I love the spring greens and purples in these mixed salad starts, and hope to enjoy the tender leaves throughout in our summer salads.

(Plus, I need to start being a more successful vegetable mama so I can teach my little boy about growing things.)