I have been looking at designing a quilt using a couple of new techniques I had read about.  One involved using a rotary cutter to create stripes.  The other was an machine alternative to hand-binding the 2 sides together.

To practice, I made lap quilts for Rob & I out of spare fabric.  I did not quilt these; instead I tied them using embroidery floss. (For those who like facts & figures; there’s 180 square knots per quilt… “Right over left, and left over right — keeps the knot neat, and tidy, and tight”)

I found that the rotary cutting & piecing technique to make the stripes was very efficient, and I will be using that in the next piece I do.  But the blanket binding technique didn’t work for me; so I’ll go back to using bias tape or hand-binding my quilts from now on.

Even though they technically weren’t my favorite pieces, apparently they do have a very high “CF” also known as “Cozy Factor”.  Our household takes great pride in items with a high coefficient of CF.  (For those nerds out there, it’s not a dimensionless number; its value is measured in terms of snores per minute per TV program)

This is Andrew.

And this is Autumn. She’s 8-mos old & came to visit us recently.

Here’s the conversation between the 2 babies as it went down on Saturday*

Andy: “Mom; Who is this new baby? And why is she sitting in front of me? And who are these people taking my picture? I’m still in my Pajamas. You didn’t even give me time to change into cute clothes!”

Autumn: “Mom — this is a new baby! Can I talk to him? Wait - he can’t sit by himself; I’m a cradle robber already!”

Andy: “Wow. You’re new. Can you hold things?”

Autumn: “Yeah. You get to do cool stuff like sit up by yourself when you get to be as old as me.”

Autumn: “Shake your left hand.”

Andy: “This one? This is fun!.”

Autumn: “No; that’s not your left — the other left!”

Autumn: “You’re pretty cute. Do you know what I do to cute boys?”

Andy: “Um, no….what?!?”

Autumn: “I GRAB THEIR EARS! <giggle>“

* Disclaimer: Baby Translation may be spotty, and was just for fun. No babies were harmed in the photography of this interaction, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Autumn & her parents spent a good part of the afternoon with us and we all had a really great time.

Andrew says “Hi”.

One thing I’ve realized over the last 2 1/2 months is that it takes a lot longer to get up the gumption & time to post.  So from here on out, if things are sporadic & short; it’s probably because we’re doing something else — like changing diapers, or playing with rings, rattles, and spinning barnyard creatures.

January came & went quickly.  Andrew grew a crazy amount, and is now in 3-6 month clothes.  He’s pushing 12 pounds, which is about where he should be for 3 months, so he’s right on track.  He’s learning all sorts of cool things, like cause & effect, and the idea that if he puts something in his hand, it probably will taste good in his mouth.  As usual, we’ve put new events, photos and videos in the usual places.

We have seen the pileated woodpecker about once or twice a week.  We also have 2 other woodpecker families (hairy & downy), plenty of chicakdees, juncos, goldfinches, titmice, and nuthatches.  We occasionally see our cardinal family and the pine finches.

When Andrew is napping, I’ve found some time to resume crafting, when I’m not blogging or paying bills.  I just finished a lap quilt and coordinating burpcloths for Candice’s baby shower — she’s having a girl, and her nursery had a ladybug theme.  Our mutual friend Meg made coordinating changing pads and boppy nursing pillow covers.  It was fun to go out and pick out fabric together as a Heather-only activity.   Buster liked the looks of the ladybug quilt, but I wouldn’t let him try out the coziness.  Seeing I used about the same method; and the same flannel backing as I used on the quilt I made for Andrew, I’m sure it will be just as cozy — and it saved Candice the trouble of getting out unwanted pet hair.