Those beautiful girls

The jacarandas are in full bloom, but we've had buckets and buckets of rain nearly every day for the past month. Even the sunny days have usually been followed by rainy evenings/nights. My big news is the second MS I sent in was rejected, in record time. So it's back to the drawing board for that one while I still await a decision on my first paper from its second journal...On the plus side, I'm getting to be good friends with Stata. But that's too boring so instead here are some recent photos of the most beautiful little girls in the entire universe. Clockwise from bottom left: Zara on the first day of kindergarten; Amity enjoying a drumstick; Wes with the girls; and Amity exercising her new skill of pulling up on things.

Amity's quilt

Here she is showing off her quilt. The pattern is called Attic Windows. Usually the corner where the two sides of the window frame meet the pane (where the purple and gold come together) involves tricky piecing but this pattern just has you make a half-square triangle for each corner. Too easy! In the border, as with all my baby quilts, is her name and birthdate. Amity means friendship, and I wanted an appropriate quote to stitch on the other 3 sides of the border. Zara's quilt has Peter Rabbit fabric and I used the opening lines of the Tale of Peter Rabbit, but I didn't have a ready literary source for this one. But the internet came through after some looking. The source is cringe-worthy -- Kahlil Gibran -- but I think it expresses the hope her parents have in naming her Amity: "In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter and sharing of pleasures."

Amity Jude

I have a new granddaughter! You've probably already guessed her name. She's 12 days old today. This photo was taken a couple of days ago. Isn't she beautiful? I'm working on her baby quilt, which I will photograph and post when it's done. I've been visiting here in VA with her parents and big sister Zara since the 26th of January. The time has flown by and I'll be leaving on Thursday to go back home to Oz. By the time I come back in June, she'll be a whole different person.