Friday Favourite - The Family

Seems rather silly, after the week the world is having, to post something about a favourite tool or gadget or pretty thing. I know we all need those things and they are a welcome distraction.

I also know that many of us create in times of stress and distress. We take comfort in our pretty things in progress and made. They give us hugs right back when we embrace their beauty, their imperfections. They are the shoulder when no other shoulder is available for the cry. They are the moments in time where peace - even when there was a struggle to make it - is readily available.

After last week and this one, both ups and downs I am sharing my ultimate  favourite thing today. My family. These 4 people make me smile more than anyone else can, while also infuriating me more than anyone else can. And I wouldn't trade them for the world. So, I'm holding them close.

We are likely to be found under a quilt. Send popcorn and scotch.

Friday Favourite: Dido's Salsa

My Dad was world famous for his salsa. Well, locally famous. As in, all of our family and friends would beg for jars of his usually just the right amount of spicy and a bit smoky salsa. In a family such as ours it is no surprise that the recipe for pyrohy dough is a treasured possession. We'd be bad Ukrainians without it. But the salsa is what we all were afraid would get lost when he died.

As the end was becoming abundantly clear in my father's lung cancer we all gathered at my parent's house. I sat and spoke to my Dad about his salsa. We started with the first recipe, the first batch he ever made. He told me where he got his tomatoes and peppers. I photographed each ingredient as it was chopped so we would always know just how fine or chunky it should be. I photographed my Dad as he  stirred, sipped, and stammered through making salsa.

A week later he was admitted to the hospital and 6 weeks later he died.

Two weeks ago my Mom and I gathered to make a batch of salsa, only the second time we've done it since his death. Somehow it's fallen to me to be the guardian of the recipe. I don't mind at all. We do a good job with it, but of course it isn't the same. It lacks the smokiness - maybe that infiltrated from him and his nasty smoking habit. And I chopped things a bit finer this time because I wasn't paying as much attention. I could hear his criticism in my head as I stirred the peppers into the tomatoes. But we came out with jars and jars of salsa that we still call Dido's Salsa. I still top my scrambled eggs with it, my daughter fills her tortilla with it, it sits beside a plate of nachos when friends come over and they ask where we got it. It will always be Dido's Salsa, even when I chop the onions too fine.

Today is the 2nd anniversary of his death. The 4 am phone call from my brother. The sobs of my Mom as I woke her, the stupid red car stuck in a giant puddle on the way to the hospital, making tea while I called the funeral home, telling the girls in the midst of a date, the washing machine repairman who came and had no clue what had happened. It's all so vivid. Perhaps even more so this year as last year I was focused on the new baby.

My Dad was a man with many faults and our relationship was far, far, from perfect or even good. But he had a story and a heart in there somewhere. And damn, he made fine salsa.

Big's Quilt - Part 1

A couple of months ago my little girl asked if we could make a quilt together. We usually have quiet mornings together a few times a week when her brother is napping and her sister is in school. Personally, I think it was more about playing on the design wall than the finished project. And that's just fine.

She spent a happy morning pulling every single bin of mine out of the closet to pick fabrics. The only thing I encouraged her to do was perhaps select a favourite fabric to start or a colour combination. Being the little girl that she is, the pinks and purples came out first. At the beginning it was going to be all pink, then purple was allowed in. Then yellow, then some green, and finally red. I'm pretty sure this fabric play took her a few mornings.

Once she'd settled on her fabrics I set to cutting them for her. She specifically requested squares all mixed up. I went with 6 1/2'' squares simply because it was an easy size to cut. As I cut she placed them on the design wall. And then she'd go harass her brother, come back, and change a square. This went on for a few weeks.

Her first layout was all the same fabrics grouped together, with a random interloper breaking things up. I let her sit on this, then encouraged her to play. She was hesitant at first, but I took a picture of what she had and promised to return to that layout if she hated it after we played. But we never went back.

She would come in every morning and rearrange a few blocks. I snapped this photo when I realized her  PJs matched her quilt. So maybe she did have an inspiration after all?!

Then the blocks sat. I got busy with other projects and she had more playdates than quiet with Mama. I kept asking her to sew with me but she wanted to play catch instead. No amount of urging from me and pleas from her sister (who wants the design wall for her own quilt) could get her motivated.

With it being spring break this week and my need for the design wall I simply told her we were going to start. She didn't have to help, but I did sew a good portion of the quilt with her on my lap.

One last rearrangement before I took all the columns down and set to sewing. I changed nothing in her layout. Of course, as we were sewing she changed her mind on some blocks. So it ended up with a little more improv. The only thing I did was make sure we had no two blocks the same next to each other.

This has been a glorious experience for me. I've watched her excitement over the fabric and layout. She got such a kick out of making HER quilt layout just the right way. It took a lot of my energy to stand back and let it all happen. A lot. Sure, I did the heavy lifting, but this will most certainly be her quilt.

(The top is together and she's picked the backing fabric, but she asks that we wait for a big reveal!)

Side by Side (Weekend Reads)

With March Break in full swing here I've been looking for creative ways to spend time with the girls. I've also been looking for a way to prioritize my time with them, while still fulfilling my creative needs. I was hoping that this book would provide a bit of inspiration.

Side by Side from Tsia Carson is not your typical craft book. She pitches it as projects that you can do with your resident crafter. Not so much about setting them up or doing all the dirty work for them. That's the goal.

To be honest, I'm not sure she really succeeded in that. There are definitely projects that work very well when parent and kid work as a team. And some that show great parallel activities so that both get something interesting and appropriate for the skill level. But it didn't really read any different than most craft books to me, other than some language about working with your kidlets.

And the projects? Well, many are things I've seen before - with some notable exceptions. I'm trying to convince my husband to do some guerilla gardening in the park across the street for the Living Willow Tree Teepee. And my kids loved the Giant Newspaper Snowflake. But pom poms, making stuffies from your kids drawings, and hand sewn pillows I've seen many times over.

My other issue with the book is the inconsistency in project instructions. In some cases they are so basic. And that's fine, if you know what you are doing. In others they are nicely detailed. It reads like a reflection of the author's own skills. If she knew how to do it, she assumed others did. If she had to research and figure it out, she spelled it out for readers. There is, however, a detailed technical section at the back of the book for the skills needed for the projects, like crochet stitches. It's pretty handy.

Carson's website is Supernaturale. I love the site for tidbits of inspiration and ideas. The book,  I suppose, is the same. Tidbits that are good for picking.

I do think this is a good addition to my library, despite my criticisms. It serves as a good reminder to be with and work with my kids a bit more. And I'm positive that once the kids devour it I will be pulling out pom pom makers and fabric paint and staplers to craft with them, at their insistence, not mine.