Tuesday

There was a question about the tent in my last post.

This was a project in Craft Club one night.
We all assembled at my house and cut out and sewed all night.
Some of the group, myself not included, even got it finished that night.
I ran out of bobbin thread on one of the seams and was so irritated that I ingnored mine until the day before the Hug-a-Bug's birthday.

The pattern I used is Butterick 4251. Some of my friends, however, made up their own pattern and they turned out fantastic.



It is a great project, because the whole thing collapses down to just the diameter of the poles.



Fits great under a bed or in the closet.



I altered the pattern somewhat-



The pattern calls for 8 foot lengths of pvc, and I didn't think that a tent that big would fit in my house, so I had the nice man at Lowe's cut them to 6 feet.



Then I shortened the pattern pieces by 2 feet.



Also, I didn't have enough fabric to do 6 panels so there are only 5 sides.



The tent is plenty big enough.




My lovely little sister (Hi Donna!) asked for one for her birthday.



She is a freshwoman in college and I have great visions of her carrying it out to the quad to do some reading.







I tried a new recipe last week.



Bacon Gruyere Quick Bread.



It is from my America's Test Kitchen Cookbook.


I was flipping through the cookbook, as is my wont, and I saw cheesy quick bread and needed to go no further.


Now, usually, I follow the Test Kitchen recipes to the letter, but I was out of eggs so I didn't put one in. Also, I didn't have whole milk, so I used yogurt mixed with skim.


I have to say, the bread was still delicious.


Can you really go wrong with gruyere, parmasan, onion and bacon?

Next time I will try it with the actual ingredients list.

One other wonderful, miraculous thing in my life, I actually read a book from beginning to end in less than 3 months. In fact, I read it in about a week!

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim.

I have loved the movie for years. The scenery, the music, the clothes. Fantastic!

The book is also very good. Ms. Von Arnim is a little fond of run-on sentences, but the overall story is just lovely.

The best part of it for me was a description of Mr. Arundel by Lady Caroline.

-He had a figure more suited to conversation than adventure.-

I will now refer to myself in that way for the rest of my days.

Have a fun-filled Tuesday,

Jess

January from the fifth lamp

As some of you know, I am trying to take pictures of the river throughout the year, to watch the seasons change.

I started in October, and I was sure that I could take a picture a day.
I have discipline.

Then I went to once a week when the weather was not as nice.
We have a drafty stroller, and I can't walk with both of the kids to the spot where I take the picture as it's on a busy street.

Now I am resigned to once a month.

That said, here is the official January photo.















I will not preclude myself from taking as many as I am able throughout the month, but this is the official one.

So, without a camera these past few weeks, I have had no pictures of the kids' gifts this birthday and christmas season.
Here, therefore, is a picture of the gift from Brian and me for the younger Hug-a-Bug on his birthday- You can see the Elder Hug-a-Bug's puppet theatre in the background.

















For christmas we gave the Hug-a-Bugs a set of blocks from Beka, and dyed them to make them bright and fun.
The Elder H-a-B's favorite new activity is building corrals for her dolls.

Here she is mid construction, "I'm not quite finished with my corral"












And here is her photo of the finished product-














I hope that all who read here have a healthy and prosperous Tuesday.
See you soon,
Jess