Step Into My Thimble

Lately Maeve’s nighttime sleep behavior has gotten all out of whack again. She is just over six months old and was still only breastfeeding; I decided not to start her on solids until she showed interest, and she really hasn’t, but it is hard to know if that is just where she’s at developmentally or if it’s related to her diagnosis of esotropia (a vision impairment). Both grandmothers felt that she needs to be getting more to eat, though I’m quite aware that breastmilk is nutritionally sufficient and I certainly haven’t cut her off from nighttime nursing.

This weekend we had some calm time, and I decided to give her a bit of rice cereal. My baby food cookbook of choice is “Simply Natural Baby Food: Easy Recipes for Delicious Meals Your Infant and Toddler Will Love” by Cathe Olson. I love a simple book these days; I just don’t have time to read elaborate theories and methodologies. And this one even has things in it I think I would want to eat too.

The section on cereals for first foods talks about how making your own out of whole grains is best because of minimal processing, not considering the possible need for iron supplementation. We already have some quinoa on the shelf, and we picked up brown rice and millet at the health food store. I picked brown rice to start with, because an allergy would be very unusual. As for preparation, I ground the rice as finely as possible in an adjustable coffee grinder I bought just for this purpose (we don’t have one for coffee, but don’t drink it often; it can be switched to that use later on). I cooked it one part rice to six parts water, and then we gave it a try, thinned with a little breastmilk.

So far, it is not her favorite. I want to offer it to her for a couple more days, and then add a bit of applesauce or pears to see if that makes it more palatable. However, she has slept a little better the last two nights, and is even getting back into a long afternoon nap routine. I think the answer to all of this is that Randomness Must Be Accepted; really there is no answer.

For me personally, giving her food is a little happy, and a little sad. It marks a big transition for both of us, away from 100% dependence on breastfeeding. I knew I wanted to nurse her before she was born; I never expected that it would be as special as it is. Breastfeeding is about much more than nutrition. The bond you make with your baby through breastfeeding is so wonderful. I am lucky we have had it so good with nursing this long, and I hope it will continue even when she’s eating (and scattering) little O cereals and pieces of fruit and all kinds of other “real” foods. At some point, I do have to release her into the wild, and I guess this is one of the first steps…

Grandma gave her something interesting to gnaw on after we went to buy bushels of acorn squash this morning:

And just so my friend Lee can get his requested 15 minutes of Internet fame, here he is, with Rodney, his wife Stephanie, and our kids. Our little roast chicken dinner last Saturday was a lot of fun, with the kids modeling their Halloween costumes after dinner, and Lee’s lovely apple pie.

Rodney chose this one for me to do next. Seemed appropriate considering the season. After this, I’m not sure yet. Maybe more applique, but not as difficult as this one.

Coming soon: details of baby’s first meal. It was a little sad.

Getting bored yet, you non-quilters?

Four blocks down, only 165 left to go. I like the tic-tac-toe of this one. I could have done better with the cutting and placement of the patterned fabric though…I guess that’s the thing that makes a “real” quilter. Maybe by my 150th block I’ll have it figured out.

I set up my Virtual Design Wall here. I’m probably making A-3 Hunter’s Moon next, because I need to get some practice with applique!

Someone took a (highly unusual) two-hour nap today, and lucky for me this one was already cut out and ready to go. Thanks to some loans from my mom I even had seam allowance lines penciled on the pieces so sewing went quickly. Love it!

For those of you who read this for the knitting content, there will be some eventually. I’m making a Chad’s Pullover for Rodney and have about six inches of the back done. It’s in Kamchatka Seamoss, which of course I bought primarily so I can say the name of it over and over and over. I am also making up a very simple fitted ribbed turtleneck for myself with the Briar Rose yarn frogged from the Ballet Wrap Cardigan. The back of that is almost done–goes quick in such a bulky gauge.

Dearest, Dearest Jane,

I got that Brenda lady’s book about your Quilt. I’m still not sure why she wrote you letters full of seemingly inane details of her life to go along with the blocks. Maybe because it wouldn’t have been much of a book if it was just full of block diagrams…but honestly that’s what the people really want. I guess Brenda has some ego issues or something, if she needs to inject so much of herself into what is obviously Your Life’s Masterpiece!

Anyway, Jane, I have decided to make my own version of your Quilt, a “Baby Jane” as Brenda would have us call it. A couple weeks ago my friend Carolyn called me up and said Jen from Tokyo was making her do a quilt-along and that she had even started a new blog about it! (We all miss her old blog Moving Hands like crazy.) So, Carolyn says, do I want to do it too? It’s the Dear Jane quilt. Melanie, and probably Alice, would also be joining in. This is good company for a quilt-along.

I’m too busy was my first thought, but then I said okay. Jane, don’t tell Carolyn, but at the time we were talking I still had no idea what the Dear Jane quilt even was! I just faked it. Because I would not have my crafty friends knowing that I’m so oblivious to such things as Your Totally Genius American Craft Masterpiece. After I agreed, I ran to my computer and did a little reading about The Quilt on Brenda’s web site. I thought, that is one insane Quilt, and I’m into insane crafts. Four and a half inch blocks? Some of them with as many as 50 pieces? Hand pieced? No problem. Never mind that I’ve only made one little quilt in my life, just three inch patchwork pieces, and on a machine to boot. I can handle it!

I decided one block a month would be doable. But what do you know, two days after I got the book I have already finished TWO of them! I was thinking maybe my version of The Quilt would be a wedding gift for my daughter Maeve (6mo.), but maybe I will actually finish it before the 21st century is half over!

So here’s my second block, B-13 Four Corners Press. It’s another nine-piece like my first one, but I used two different colors along with the muslin this time.

The Flickr group for the DJ Project is here. What’s that, you ask, Jane? I imagine you’d probably be interested in the way we 21st century people share crafty inspiration. It’s a place where we can look at pictures of each other’s blocks even though we are half a world away. Pretty awesome.

Jane, TTYL, dude.

Heidi