Taking Care

How lucky I am, to have so many friends who want to take care of me, to make me comfortable and to spoil me and my children.  In today's post I want to say THANK YOU to all of them (you) for the kind words, emails, fb messages, cards, presents and visits that have filled my recent weeks.

Jack is 6 weeks old today, and I wanted to share a few of the thoughful gifts we have received:
In my last post, I mentioned a new quilt, all the way from Hokkaido, here it is:

 Hand appliqued, embroidered, and hand quilted by the lovely Mrs. Kubota.  xoxo!

We also received a super soft and cuddly crocheted afghan from Merrill:
(need to add the photo later, he's currently sleeping with it!)

(Totally jealous of her crochet skills, I've wanted to make a ripple blanket for years)

and some wonderful stew from Bernadette!

There were also many many cute sleepers, onsies, outfits, and a new stuffed doggy.  Many friends also brought big brother presents for George which were definitely appreciated.

My sister has been here for the past couple days, and her help (round the clock) is a present far more valuable than any gift.  Thanks Lor.  Don't know what we'll do without you.

In other news, I have been quilting as much as possible.  Some by hand, some by machine.  If I can get some photos today, I might have something to show soon..

Caught between two seasons

Just a few weeks ago I was lamenting the never ending summer and was desperate to get back to the cool rhythms of fall.  Believe me, I'm glad fall is on its way, but every time I have to reach for a sweater or change out of shorts into long pants, I wonder if my longing isn't misplaced or naive.

Nevertheless, I baked pumpkin muffins this morning:

They were good, and I'll make them again. (Recipe here)
But I couldn't help feeling it was too early for them.  And as I cleaned the house and daydreamed about putting up halloween decorations, I also felt conflicted.  September is a great month, why am I wishing it away? 
In September so many good things get to happen, like your husband taking your kid to the park by bike and staying there for 3 hours.  And not yet needing to slather yourself in body lotion after a shower to combat dry skin.  I pulled my house slippers out of the closet, but really, it's still ok to walk on the tiles barefoot.  The weather is perfect, the tomatoes and basil are still abundant in the garden, and I don't have to wear nylons to work yet.  The more I think about it, September is pretty perfect.

Anyway, I would love to show you a picture of my completed Anyway You Slice it baby quilt top, but since I started using my smartphone as my primary camera, I don't have the regular point-n-shoot with the tripod within easy reach, and haven't found the right opportunity to ask C to hold the quilt so I can take a picture (last weekend I asked, but his hands were dirty from the garden.  um, not on my quilt).  Hopefully soon.  I went through several backing trials, and decided that it will look best if I throw an abandoned UFO on the back.  I may regret cutting the UFO up, but I have a feeling that it will work out.  Let's see.

I'm eating a second helping of dinner as I type this (gotta love a guilt-free pregnancy diet), and it's so good I have to share.. if you're looking for a not-too-heavy end of summer pasta, go ahead and try this one from Food & Wine: Meyers lemony broccoli and chickpea rigatoni
It's best hot off the stove top, and when you can sneak the chickpeas inside a piece of rigatoni.  Tart, a little spicy, and very satisfying.  Let me know if you like it.

Tuesday Laiki

One of the simple pleasures of life in Athens is the local "Laiki" which is somehow a cross between a flea market and a farmer's market.  You can buy everything from toilet paper to underwear to fresh fish..
Within walking distance from our house there are two weekly street markets-- to the east on Mondays and to the north on Tuesdays.  Today I strolled through on my way to pick up George from school (which he loves, btw)..

Most of the women come with small hand carts to carry their purchases home, but I wasn't planning on buying much so I didn't think to bring anything like that.  I learned a valuable lesson today though-- don't go to Laiki hungry..
I ended up spending all the cash in my pocket and had to carry home a few kilos-worth of produce.  but it was worth it.

Tuesday's Laiki doesn't have a lot of "stuff," mostly food.  I did buy two t-shirts for 2euros each, and I was tempted to get some cotton scarves, but I held out this week.  Let's wait and see when I cave into the temptation..
I did come home with half a kilo of strawberries which George promptly ate when we got back to the house.  I also picked up a bag of shelled pistachios and guiltily ate those myself..

I have a feeling by the end of our trip I will have tried everything they have at least once.  Do it while you can, right?

Sweet treats

Did I mention that I love Halloween?
So much that I make George have a halloween-themed birthday party every year?
Costas always says that we should save time and order a cake, but he just doesn't understand that it's so much fun to make sweets for the party!

Ghosts were made by piping melted white chocolate onto wax paper.  Add eyes in dark chocolate or sprinkles.

Cupcakes were from a box mix (pillsbury dark chocolate) with chocolate chips added in.  G and I made them together, then I frosted them, he added sprinkles, and I popped on a ghost.  The activity in itself was 10x as fun as eating them..

But they were pretty tasty..
For the record, we did get a bakery cake this year too, tres leche from the local Colombian place (I swear, Costas has something against American baked goods).  In silent protest, I didn't eat any, but I heard it was great.  Not as cute as my cupcakes though..

And the birthday boy-- Superman.  He was wearing two layers under the costume so it actually looked like he had all those muscles.  I have taken Jan-Maree's advice and started a file of photos to share at George's 21st.. I hope he realizes I'm doing it out of love..

So have you finished anything good lately?  You've got a few days left to put in the final stitches, because on Friday I'm hosting TGIFF!! 

Please come back and link up if you can!
I've got a bit of hand quilting to get done before I can claim to be finished.  I've actually got two projects ready.. but I'll show off one on Friday and the other on Saturday (?) for the Blogger's Quilt Festival. 
Busy weekend~