Today was Lina’s fourth birthday, and I had decided to mostly make her gifts this year. That’s what I decided, but we ended up buying her a little bike, and the nightie is still on my sewing table! However, I did make one gift, and I was really happy with how it turned out (and so was she, which made it all that much better), so I decided to do a little show and tell. Seriously now, tell me you wouldn’t just love this if you were four.

But wait, it opens!

No way! It’s actually a house!

And you can even get inside of it to put the fairies back in their sleeping bags (hey- I didn’t have any time for furniture!)

This was a pretty fun little project, and the thrill payoff was more than enough to make me plan one for Daphne for Christmas! What do you think?

Here is a little mental image that may be helpful for those of you who have little dinks like I do. I like to think of them as a bunch of little racquetball players and I am the court. They throw things at my walls, or hit them, or otherwise propel them at me, and it is my job to absorb the shock. To take a bad attitude with a lot of spin and turn it into a quiet little ball rolling across the floor. Sometimes it seems like we can get caught up in the game – “you throw that backtalk at me, buster, and it’s gonna come back at you so fast you’re gonna need  protective eye gear” – just to take an example.

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Speaking of screamers, you never know when there might be a news crew near to catch you over-reacting.

This morning I got the chance to walk around the County Fair with my daughter’s pre-school class, which was a hoot. I absolutely love the Fair. Especially the livestock barns. Yes, I enjoy a stroll through the quilt show, a walk past all the booths where we get free popcorn, lollipops, and “future nurse” hats for the kids. I even love to walk past the booths where we don’t get foot-long corn-dogs. But the thing that brings me back year after year is the livestock barns.

This is my yearly appointment with what is really going on in the world. It makes no difference to me that I have seen it before, I am always shocked. I love to walk past the small town cheerleader girls chatting through their gum about their steer. I love to see a bunch of nervous kids with canes sweating it out trying to keep their pigs moving in a circle so the judges can get a good view of the meat in motion (and comment later about the shape of their hams). I love to see the piglets fighting to Read More

There appears to have been a dust up over the faux bottle.

 This is the dufflecoat pattern from Debbie Bliss Essential Baby, which I just finished in Rowan cashsoft (wonderful!) The model (and owner) is our very own Chloe Poppins, now ready for Idaho autumn as seen from the stroller.