No, I haven't disappeared off the face of the planet ... I just, at the moment, have what I heard someone recently refer to as "a velcro baby". Maisie has been "all Mummy, all the time" the last week or two and at times it seemed like I'd never get to use my arms for anything else ever again, but this week she's easing off a bit and spending more time practicing her new skill. She can now move around on her tummy and squirms across the floor with a ridiculously excited expression after rattles, dog toys and me. I love watching her go. I must have found little moments to use my hands though because Maisie has a new pair of pants and an almost finished sweater. She was nicely amused by all the hammering to get the snaps onto her new bibs so I was able to finish those too. Crafting in tiny bits is a very different experience and I'm still getting use to it.

Looking back at the pictures I've shared of Maisie eating all her new foods she seems to be remarkably clean. I thought I'd better have at least one picture of her at the end of a meal with oatmeal smeared everywhere. She got to have a bath after her first experience with blueberries (but she liked them so much I added them to her oatmeal the following morning). At least two of her bibs are just the right colour for blueberries and a few others I mentally designate "squash and carrots" bibs.

I picked the last carrots out of my garden just before the snow came. It's the kind that will be sticking around all winter and made for a slippery Hallowe'en. Rob spent a while outside after work on Thursday evening making sure the path to our door was safe for all the little ghouls and princesses that might come by. Maisie was a tiger for Hallowe'en and fell asleep between when I got her costume on and when Rob got home from work but woke up in time to go to a friend's house to trick-or-treat.

September is a time of change any year but this year it's so much more noticeable for me. Last week Maisie was curious about food and watching us eat; this week she is chewing on pieces of carrot and banana. She's getting bigger and will outgrow some more of her pajamas soon. She's also getting really good at doing crunches and grabbing onto things on purpose. She celebrated turning six months old on Sunday by rolling onto her tummy and being happy there for a full ten minutes. I celebrated by waking up with a sore throat and developing a fever which wasn't nearly as fun and meant I had to put off some plans to met up with a friend and her son today.

We're still seeing some grackles at the feeder but now it is mostly just our squirrel. He comes to the feeder for a peanut and then runs off to hide it. I'm curious how many peanut are hidden in my garden pots. I know for sure he's also burying them in the potato box. Abby and Ollie and Maisie have a great time watching him run back and forth across the deck. Every so often he changes his route and runs down the side of the house instead of the back steps and there is much scurrying to get to the appropriate window in time to see him go by.

September makes me want to make. I made biscuits inspired by welsh cakes (which just means I added currents and nutmeg) for my lunch one day last week and had the leftovers for breakfast the next morning. I made a slight variation on fairy bread with a spare hot dog bun on evening just for fun (by the way I love hot dog buns - they're so soft and sweet and just so good). A friend in my knitting group is recently back from a year in New Zealand and was telling us about some of the different foods they make there. There has been a little more knitting. My Ravelry notebook shows 18 works-in-progress! I really need to work more on getting things finished and less on getting them started. Especially before the yarn for Maisie's winter sweater arrives. I made a little pair of pants for Maisie. I used Rae's basic newborn pants pattern. She says they have a lot of ease so I figured I could make them up as is and see where I need to adjust things to make them Maisie sized. It looks like they mostly just need a bit of length in the leg and maybe a smidge in the rise. Maisie was pretty thrilled about them when I tried them on  her - lots of wiggles and smiles.

My mum came over this afternoon and went for a walk with us. I took the big camera along and got her to take a picture of me, Maisie and Abby the way we usually look when we're out for a walk. We'll have to do it again in the winter. I managed to take a picture of the fireweed along part of the path. I've been admiring it all summer through its different phases. I think I might like the fall colours the best.

I finished Dress No. 9 the other day when Maisie was happy to be on her play mat on the floor in the sewing room. I took pictures of it as soon as I had it on since it seemed likely it would need to be washed soon. Nothing seems to invite spit-up like a piece of fresh clothing. Since I was at home by myself the easiest way to ensure Maisie would stay happy while I played with my camera was just to include her in the pictures. She's learned what this big black thing is and loves to look at it.

Specs for the dress: I used the All-Weekend Sundress pattern from Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross. The fabric is a Liberty of London Tana Lawn print, the name of which escapes me, that has been sitting on my shelf for over a year. I got it with a different dress in mind but decided the stripes weren't going to work for that pattern. That other dress required less yardage so Dress No. 9 isn't as long as it could be but it's breezy and easy to wear so I still like it. There is shirring with elastic thread at the top of the bodice and the waistband. I'd forgotten how much I like elastic thread. It's really fun to use and makes really comfortable, nicely fitting clothing.
---

I wrote most of this post last weekend but thought I'd lost it when the power went out. I finally had another bit of time for blogging this evening and just discovered it was still there. It turns out I'd finished my dress just in time. The weather turned last Monday and today we had our furnace on. It was 16 degrees in the house when we got up this morning and had only risen to 17 by the time Rob got home from work in the evening. I usually like to wait as long as I can before turning on the furnace but Maisie and I were both pretty cranky so even though it's not yet September the heat is on.