Winking Butterfly, Consumerism, and Good Food

I'm so glad to see that a few people were encouraged or inspired by my little quilt blocks. I'm happy to be transparent about the fact that I was certainly not born knowing how to do any of this, and am just struggling through it as best I can. I also wish there were more craftsters out there who were more open about their challenges - I might learn more about techniques to improve from them that way.

My mother-in-law shared a little quilt block tutorial with me from another blog, so I tried that out yesterday and thought I'd pass it along if any of you were so inspired that you would really like to give a block a try for yourself. Here's the butterfly block tutorial. This was entirely do-able and I think the finished product is pretty fun, I kind of want to do several of the same block over again! Here's now mine turned out:

I still can't quite manage to get all my corners sharp, and the little creature feels lopsided a bit to the right - but that kind of gives it a little character, so I'm not too upset about it. I've decided it feels like its winking at me - so its my "winking butterfly."

I found out today that my grandmother's aunt was quite the avid quilter. I am looking forward to a trip home in a few weeks so that I can see some of her pieces. How amazing would it be if I could make anything that my family would feel like would be worth saving for several generations? Isn't it ironic how we live in a culture that is so much more obsessed with consuming goods, and yet we are so less likely to have any goods that last or hold significant meaning? I guess we have chosen quantity over quality. I am glad I have some significant treasures in my possession like my salt shaker display case, hand-crafted by my grandfather, my gorgeous Christmas stocking needlepointed by my mother, baby blankets knit for my baby-to-be by my grandmother, and loads of purses made by my mother-in-law.

I don't consider myself a hugely materialistic person, but the need for a new wardrobe that fits an expanding belly has forced me to the mall more often than usual lately. It is strange how that can open a flood gate of a really different lifestyle or approach to using my credit card. Thank goodness my husband  was self-aware to catch us in the act, so now I can try to curb this lust for spending a bit before it gets too out of control. I'm also immensely grateful to my friend, Gladys, mother of 4, who just gave me a huge box of her maternity clothes. She increased my wearable wardrobe six-fold in one swift blessing and effectively nipped in the bud my major excuse to get out and spend. It's as if she quenched this thirst that had taken over me.

For someone who is as fashion-challenged as myself, I wonder whether I could consider trying to shop for or try on all these maternity outfits - having to envision a belly even greater than the one I'm carrying around right now, figuring out what tops can go with which pants, debating what counts as "fitting" with this weird new body shape and what colors actually work with my skin tone (which evolves on a daily basis depending on how much of this San Diego sun I get exposed to) - might count as expending creative energy? It certainly requires more effort from me than the average woman, I would assume. I blame 13 years of uniforms for depriving me of these basic life lessons.

In other creative activity news for this week, I tried a mushroom bolognese recipe from the Oct. issue of Cooking Light and was just thrilled with how it turned out, even though I cut a handful of corners. I long for the day when I can afford to buy fresh pasta instead of just bulk spaghetti from Costco. Growing up, my family would host dinner parties where we all made our own pasta from scratch. These were SO much fun - and I've enjoyed throwing a few of these myself. I wish I had the energy to make my pasta fresh for myself more often, but its a pretty huge production for a regular practice. I am also looking forward to making some dips for Manny's cousin's baby shower this weekend. In our little party planning meeting, the group actually requested that I make our 7-layer dip Manny and I have made for a few other family gatherings. I don't know if a dish of mine has ever been requested before, it was a strange ego rush! Its a very simple dish, and yet an art to execute at the same time as its one of the few things I make without ever having used a recipe and it comes out with a unique flavor balance every time.