Archive for the 'Rilla' Category

Wee and Wonderful Indeed

November 25, 2008 @ 9:41 pm | Filed under: Family Adventures, Handcrafts, Rilla

I took a leaf from Jenn’s book today and raided our scrap bin to make a spur-of-the-moment flannel quilt top for Rilla. We are in the process of transitioning her to her own bed in the girls’ room. (My three big girls share a room, and we’re adding a trundle for little sis.) This is something that’s always on the to-do list during a pregnancy, moving the toddler out of our room to make way for the newborn, but I admit I’ve been a bit lax with it this time around. Rilla still nurses a little at night; that’s part of it. And also, she’s very cuddly. Toddlerhood passes so quickly, and I like to savor every breathy little snore of it.

A month or two ago, we set up a (bedraggled old) child-sized futon next to our bed, and Rilla has been starting out her nights there. At some point in the night, she climbs into bed beside me. She’s like a cat, the way she sort of pours herself under the covers and curls up next to me with a contented sigh. She’s also like in a cat in the way she’ll turn on a dime and hiss and snarl at the blankets because they have offended her somehow, and she’s all flailing paws until the malevolent covers are no longer touching any part of her body. A mercurial little creature, is my Rilla.

Yesterday we moved the futon into the girls’ room. She thought this whole “sleeping with the big girls” thing was a pretty swell idea right up until bedtime, when suddenly it was The Most Offensive Idea Anyone Has Ever Had in All of Human History. But I snuggled up beside her in the dark, and her sisters whispered to her, and the devious plan I’d carried out earlier in the day—feeding her marshmallows at naptime instead of putting her down for a nap—paid off pretty quickly. She sighed, and sank, and slumbered, and when her limbs began lashing at the covers I knew it was safe for me to slip away. (Sob.)

Jane and I thought a special new blanket for her special new bedroom might help ease the transition. Rilla doesn’t have a blankie she’s attached to, though she does like the little patchwork baby quilt I made her before she was born. It’s way too small now, of course. So this morning Jane and I pieced together the remnants of the same cozy flannel plaids and prints I’d used for that baby blanket nearly three years ago and came up with a sort of wonky, large-patch quilt top. We’ve got a big piece of pink plaid-and-polka-dots to use for the backing. I’ve never actually quilted anything before, mind you—the baby quilts I’ve made are just patchwork tops with flannel backing, no batting in between. I need to go buy some batting tomorrow and we’ll see if we can pull this thing off.

In the meantime, the quilt top seems to have passed Miss Rilla’s muster.

The little embroidered kitty with flower umbrella at the bottom is a pattern from the Wee Wonderfuls “Tulip Fairy” Stitchette set, which I bought a while back and forgot about until today. That blank pink patch was just begging for a bit of embellishment. And I have to say, I am completely enchanted. The Stitchette pattern is a reusable iron-on which took all of ten seconds to transfer to our fabric. Suddenly everywhere I look are blank bits of fabric crying out for a little Wee Wonderfuls snail, or the mice pouring tea from that cunning acorn teapot, or that kite-flying ladybug, oh the cuteness of it all.

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13 comments  

Rillisms

September 26, 2008 @ 6:27 am | Filed under: Rilla

Me to Rilla at bedtime last night: “You didn’t get a nap today. You must be very sleepy!”

Rilla: “Yes, I do.”

********

On yet another nap-deprived day:

Me, offhandedly, after Rilla snarled at her brother: “My goodness, you’re grumpy this afternoon.”

Rilla: “No I not! I MAD!”

Maybe she’s been reading about the bailout.

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Overheard: A Bitter Quarrel

September 16, 2008 @ 3:03 pm | Filed under: Rilla, These People Crack Me Up

Rilla: “No! I baby!!”

Wonderboy: “No, you ’weetheart.”

Rilla: “NO I NOT! I not fweetheart! I BABY!”

(Um, Rilla honey, I hate to break it to you, but…)

7 comments  

Her Majesty Colors

September 8, 2008 @ 6:16 am | Filed under: Photos, Rilla

10 comments  

Methinks Someone Was Ready for a Nap

August 27, 2008 @ 1:14 pm | Filed under: Photos, Rilla

2 comments  

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children's book author

Melissa Wiley




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Every Face I Look at Seems Beautiful






My Bonny Clan


Jane, 13 yrs old
Rose, 10 yrs
Beanie, 7 yrs
Wonderboy, 5 yrs
Rilla, 2 yrs
baby eagerly expected Jan. 2

and Scott, the love of my life




Book Log 09


The Ten-Year Nap
by Meg Wolitzer

The Uncommon Reader: A Novella
by Alan Bennett

World Made by Hand
by James Howard Kunstler






Book Log 08


Lots of picture books
for the Cybils

The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution
by Alice Waters

How I Live Now
by Meg Rosoff

The Great Turkey Walk
by Kathleen Karr
(family read-aloud)

The Trees Kneel at Christmas
by Maud Hart Lovelace

A Reader's Delight
by Neil Perrin
(a book I have savored, essay by essay, all year—thank you again, sweet friend who sent it)

Ethan Frome
by Edith Wharton

The Ransom of Red Chief
by O. Henry
(family read-aloud)

Sign of the Beaver
by Elizabeth George Speare
(family read-aloud)

Stitched in Time: Memory-Keeping Projects to Sew and Share
by Alicia Paulson

Bend-the-Rules Sewing
by Amy Karol

Understood Betsy
by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
(read-aloud to Beanie)

The King's Fifth
by Scott O'Dell
(middle-grade novel about a young Spanish cartographer's travels with Coronado in search of the Seven Cities of Cibola)

A Murder for Her Majesty
by Beth Hilgartner
(I posted about it here)


haystackcover

Haystack Full of Needles
by Alice Gunther
(Here's my post about it)

The Highwaymen
by Marc Bernardin and Adam Freeman

Number the Stars
by Lois Lowry

Swallows and Amazons
by Arthur Ransom

A Street in Marrakesh
by Elizabeth Warnock Fernea

Knight's Castle
by Edward Eager (to Beanie)

(a sequel to Half Magic)



The Creative Family
by Amanda Soule

The Losers (Vol.1): Ante Up
by Andy Diggle and Jock

Green Arrow: Year One
by Andy Diggle and Jock

Outside Lies Magic: Regaining History and Awareness in Everyday Places
by John R. Stilgoe
(here's a post about it)

Two-Part Invention: The Story of a Marriage
by Madeleine L'Engle

Dogger
by Shirley Hughes

As for the rest:

They're at GoodReads


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Hey, what happened to all those booklists you used to have in your sidebars?

They're still accessible at melissawiley.typepad.com, where this blog lived from January 2005-March 2008. You can also find all my Lilting House posts there, or try the search bar here. All my previous Bonny Glen and Lilting House posts have been imported to this site.


My Big List of Booklists


Favorite Fictional Families


The Quiet Joy


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A Word about How I Blog

Every day is complicated, messy, and full of friction. And every day has glorious or cozy moments worth celebrating. I seldom bother to chronicle the friction and the mess because writing time is fleeting and precious—and childhood even more so. I’d rather capture the small joys that I might forget—or take for granted—if I don’t take time to set them down in words.

(Excerpt from this post about Real Life, quoted here because I don't want anyone to be under the impression that things are always perfect around here! Heaven knows we are anything but. Perfect, frictionless, orderly? Nope. Happy? Most of the time!)


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    Be Like the Bird


    Be like the bird
    Who, pausing in flight
    On limb too slight,
    Feels it give way beneath her,
    Yet sings,
    Knowing she has wings.

    —Victor Hugo




    Our Family "Rule of Six"

    Six Things to Include in Your Child's Day:

    meaningful work
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