A week and a half ago, I received my MSLIS (Master in Library and Information Science). Graduation was an exciting day but also a day of saying goodbye to some very good friends. I miss them all so much but I know we’ll see them again.

The day after graduation we moved the rest of our stuff from the apartment in Illinois to our house in Kansas. It was probably the least stressful move I’ve ever experienced. (I’ve only moved six times in the last 13 years.) We’ve begun to settle into the house with some boxes still remaining in the downstairs. The upstairs attic (future craft area and spare bedroom) is still full of boxes and needs some serious work. One of the challenges of moving into this house has been going through my aunt’s belongings and making room for our own.

Two days after our move, I started my new job as the Teen/Youth Coordinator at one of the local libraries. I love my new job and it still doesn’t seem real that I’m an honest to goodness librarian. I’ve been planning activities to go along with our summer reading program which has been a lot of fun. Today literally flew by.

Over Memorial Day weekend, I worked a lot in the garden. It’s now 95% planted with peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, peas, butternut squash, onions, herbs and we’ll soon be adding peanuts. We also put in two raspberry bushes in the backyard with one more to add later this week. The gardening has been so fulfilling and I can’t wait to find out how plentiful our harvest will be. I think we’ll probably have lettuce in the next couple of weeks.

(Dahlia seedlings three days after planting)
Spring feels like it’s trying to get here. There may be flowers outside but inside is where the exciting things are happening. Little seedlings are trying to grow big and strong in their little pots in my office. This morning as I was getting ready to water them I noticed three little plants have already pushed through the soil. When I came home from work there was another one starting to come up.

The semester is wrapping up quickly and it’s all making me quite nervous, excited and sad. Nervous and excited because something I’ve wanted for nearly five years is all coming to an end. There were months I hoped to get into library school and in about six weeks I’ll be graduating with my MLS. And also sad to be leaving so many great friends. Some are starting off on their own post-grad school adventures while others will give us a reason to return for visits.

This weekend was the Fairy Tale Ball at one of the local libraries. I volunteered to read stories and several friends and classmates volunteered to do other things at the Ball. It was a lot of fun and the fortune teller, who I happen to know was fabulous.

I’d spent a good part of Spring Break wondering if I would find a dress that was perfect. The first store my mom and I walked into and the second dress I tried on was perfect. I didn’t even need to hem it.

Friday afternoon, I whipped together my head garland in about an hour. I bought several stems of “silk” daisies and leaves at Hobby Lobby and twisted them around a bridal headband that I bought. It truly turned out better than I expected.

A couple of classmates said we should wear our Fairy Tale outfits more often. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a plan to wear them to one of our upcoming classes. Oh the joys of being a future children’s librarian! Now to just get the degree and a job.

This weekend I also started peppers, tomato, herbs, dahlia and echinacea seeds for our future garden. It’s a small portion of what we have planned for the garden. Bryan is working on getting the garden prepared for planting. We’ve found out that soil in Kansas City has a lot of heavy clay in it. Poor Bryan found that out the hard way yesterday after trying to pull up the sod. Looks like we’ll be paying someone to till up the soil for us.

Last week, I spent my Spring Break with Bryan and visited my family in Kansas City. Coming back was difficult but it’s made me realize how special my friends here are to me. I know have a very finite time here and I’m also preparing to finish up a library degree that for so long has felt so far away. Now we’re looking forward to living together again and the amazing things that come with having our own house with a huge yard. Last week I plotted out our garden – 10 feet by 30 feet. Bryan came home and immediately said, “That’s it?” The yard of our new house is huge and a 10 x 30 foot garden looks like a very tiny piece of the yard. I have a feeling we’ll be planting lots of flowers and berry bushes so there is less yard for Bryan to mow.

I may be in the middle of a busy semester but that doesn’t stop me from dreaming of sewing. My mother and sister bought me some wonderfully beautiful fabric while my mom was visiting my sister in Singapore this past Thanksgiving. I’m starting to feel the itch to make some cute tops out of the fabric but getting my reading done each week for class doesn’t allow me a lot of time to sew. Even with listening to several as audiobooks. As May approaches and my packing has to increase, I’m hoping that I can squeeze a bit of sewing time in. I have several patterns that will make great little tops and even traced a couple of patterns from a Japanese pattern book that my friend Sarah owns. I’m hoping that this weekend, I can sneak in a bit of sewing time.

To add to it all, life has been feeling a little off-kilter lately. When I lived by myself (before I moved in with Bryan) I thought of myself as an independent woman with momentary lapses at times. After I got married, I still considered myself pretty strong and pretty independent until last month. I think it’s learning to live alone again while also having your spouse five hundred miles away. I was sort of dreading Valentine’s Day but it was fine. I saw Coraline a second time with knitting friends and pampered myself with a haircut. Bryan definitely made up for not being here.

Bianca definitely enjoyed the flowers too.

Between the time Bryan moved and the beginning of classes, I knit quite a lot on Bryan’s Saddle Shoulder cardigan. When he left at the beginning of January, I had about four and a half inches finished and I’m at nearly 16 inches. Then I have the pleasure of figuring out the sleeves and where in the pattern to start them so they will meet up perfectly with the body.

After seven winters of my cute fall colors flower hat, I decided it was time for a bit of a change. I saw the cover of Boutique Knits and sadly our library didn’t own it until just last week. So I figured out my own version of the cloche on the cover. It was a lot of trial and error as I only had about 115 yards to work with. I reknit it several times before I was happy with it. One problem was I ran out of yarn and the hat was just too big.

A couple of weeks ago I decided it was finally time to case a book that I bound this past fall. It’s my new reading journal and once it was dry, I quickly started to fill it with all of the books I’ve read since I finished my last reading journal. I also bound and cased a book for Bryan and I to write letters in to each other. He hasn’t received it yet and I want him to receive it in the mail before I post photos of the book. I have to admit I think it’s the most beautiful book I’ve ever made.

To say that November was busy is a bit of an understatement around our house. The week before Thanksgiving Break I was beginning to question my sanity and the lack of sleep due to working on projects into the wee hours of the nice wasn’t helping. I definitely enjoyed my Thanksgiving Break and spent some time sewing. Our Thanksgiving was relaxing, we spent it with Bryan’s family in the ‘burbs. The rest of the weekend was spent just taking it easy and getting ready for the coming week. I did a bit more sewing that I’ll show off soon. Now one of my favorite months begins. It’s not just the holidays, it’s the birthday celebration and how everyone seems to be in a warm and giving mood. I certainly dread the commercialism of the holidays, especially after working retail for a holiday season three years ago. This year there will definitely be as many handmade gifts as possible.

In all of the craziness of November I still managed to keep a bit sane and worked on a few smaller projects that seemed to fly off the needles. I have to remember to take knitting on the bus, projects seem to go so much faster. I constantly have this internal conflict as I’m walking out the door to catch the bus to campus – knitting or pleasure reading. For most of the semester pleasure reading has won but I’m thinking that maybe knitting should win for a while.

About a month ago Bryan mentioned how on cold mornings it would be nice to have a pair of mittens that were warm for walking to work but not too warm like his current pair of mittens. I rummaged through the stash and came out with several possible yarn choices. He chose some yarn that I hadn’t a clue what to do with it, which was fabulous. Twelve days later he had himself a pair of walk-to-work mittens. He loves them and has requested a button for the flaps.

I’ve been truly inspired by The Black Apple’s clothing blog. I’m tired of feeling frumpy and several weeks ago, I decided to knit a cowl that I could wear to replace my standard winter fare of turtlenecks. I’d had a ball of Malabrigo sitting around in the stash and decided this was the perfect yarn. It was so soft and knit up quicker than I expected. I think Malabrigo is one of my new favorite yarns. I was a bit disappointed at how it pooled but I received so many compliments on it.

As part of the attempt to wear nicer things, I decided that it was the perfect time to clear out a lot of the old clothes. This past weekend cleaned out my closet and dresser and gave away two and a half trash bags full of old clothes, many that I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve had since college (I graduated over 12 years ago). It’s amazing how attached we get to clothes that no longer fit.

Another attempt at frumplessness is my current project. I’ve had this yarn sitting in the stash for over three years and I’ve wanted to make something with it but have never known quite what to do with it. I always knew it would be a lacy scarf, finding the right lacy pattern for it has always been a problem. Then as I was exploring the Barbara Walker books for a cowl pattern, I came across the Japanese Feather pattern in A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns and immediately fell in love with the pattern. I love the scalloped edge of the pattern.

There have been several little sewing projects going on that I’ll get posted later.

After finishing Bryan’s book, I immediately wanted to make another book.

When we were in Kansas cleaning out my grandfather’s house in May, we came across several daily diaries my great-grandmother had kept for several years.

One of the entries really touched me, it said something to the effect of “John called. Jane had baby girl. Mom and baby are fine.” That baby was me and I decided this year I wanted to keep a daily journal, just to record my last year of school.

My attempts at keeping a daily journal before failed but with the perfect book, I knew this time would be different. I figured our anniversary was the perfect time to start.

I knew I wouldn’t find a journal I liked and I decided to make one for myself.

In early September in my Book Arts class, the first book we learned to make was an alphabet book.

Each member of the class made one and we each stamped two letters in the book.

I had “A” and “J”. I love this book, it’s such a special little book.
The button I used for the cover is one I’ve had for about seven or eight years and I’ve never used it. This seemed like the perfect project for it.

This weekend I’m taking an all-day bookbinding class. We’ll be binding three different types of books.

About a month ago, when I took the entire week off from work and spent the entire week sewing I finished a baby quilt that I can now show off. It’s a monkey quilt for my friend Brandi’s son. He was born over a year ago. I started the quilt before I started school last year and before her son was born.

I made it a personal goal to finish the quilt before his first birthday and I succeeded. He received it just a couple of days before and both boy and mom love the quilt.
It was really a fun quilt to make and I have enough fabric to make a quilt top for myself. I based the quilt design off of a photo I saw online last year but I can’t find the source now.

Also before school started I made another quilt for my cousin who is having a baby in October. It was a simple quick quilt to make and literally took me three days to make. The photos are on my mom’s camera since I finished it while we were visiting them in Kansas City over Labor Day weekend.

It’s been a very busy semester so far. My three classes are keeping me extra busy. I’m taking Special Topics in Book Arts, Youth Services and Cataloging. The Special Topics in Book Arts class is my favorite and it’s an intensive class being held over the first eight weeks instead of the normal sixteen weeks of the semester. It meets twice a week with one day being a lecture and the second day being a hands-on day. Two weeks ago we made a class alphabet book using rubber stamps. We learned how to fold a perfect accordion and then made a little cover for it. It was a simple little book but really fun to make. I can definitely see how it would be a fun type of book to make for friends and family. Last week we put together a zine based on a personal history paper that we each wrote a couple of weeks ago. The paper was a fun one to write and I had fun working on the layout of my zine. It took me a bit longer than I’d planned only because I got so side-tracked reading all of the kids’ books I loved as a small child. (I’ll post photos of both books soon.)

Youth Services and Cataloging are pretty standard library school classes. I hold out hopes that cataloging will be more enjoyable than I’m expecting.

Bryan, friends and school have kept me busy this past week. Wednesday I baked bread and learned all about what it means to have a very warm and humid kitchen. The end result bread was fabulous and was so airy. I have more bread in the works this morning.

Sunday we went blueberry picking for the third time this summer. We came home with just over seven pounds. We’ve slowly been freezing some of them to have for later. Last year we had blueberries until December. My breakfast bowl has been so filled with berries over the last few weeks between the blueberries we’ve picked and the berries from our friends’ backyard. Now our little garden in back is becoming fruitful with bell and jalapeño peppers, along with our amazingly huge plant of basil.

With my two classes this summer I’ve been reading a lot. Every summer, I sign up for the adult summer reading program at the local public library. I also keep a list on the fridge of the books I’ve read and “reward” myself with cute stickers I’ve had for years. (To decorate all of those letters that I was supposedly going to write all of these years.) This weekend I passed a goal that I didn’t think was possible for summer. Granted I started my summer reading as soon as school ended, but still I’ve read more than 25 books since May 3. This doesn’t even count the picture books that I’ve read for my Children’s Non-Fiction class. In summers past, I’ve been proud of 16 books over the summer but this will be hard to surpass next summer. So what are these books I’ve read, well here they are:
(one star = read for Adult Popular Literature, two stars = read for Children’s Non-Fiction)
* Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar
What Happened to Cass McBride by Gail Giles
* Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
** Laika by Nick Abadzis
* Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
* Thursday Next: First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde
* Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
** Little People and a Lost World by Linda Goldenberg
* Anyone But You by Jennifer Crusie
** Code Talkers by Joseph Bruchac
** Indian School by Michael Cooper
** 1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving by Catherine O’Neill Grace and Margaret Bruchac
* Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld
* Be Still My Vampire Heart by Kerrelyn Sparks
** Bearing Witness: Stories of the Holocaust selected by Hazel Rochman and Darlene Z. McCampbell
** Maus: A Survivor’s Tale by Art Spiegelman
** Maus II: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman
* Forbidden Pleasures by Bertrice Small (I was surprised how explicit this romance novel was)
** Ain’t Nothing But A Man: My Quest to Find the Real John Henry by Scott Reynolds Nelson
** Steel Drivin’ Man: John Henry, The Untold Story of an American Legend by Scott Reynolds Nelson
* Mojave Crossing by Louis L’Amour
** What’s Going on Down There? by Karen Gravelle
** The Period Book by Karen Gravelle
** Kampung Boy by Lat
** Hole in My Life by Jack Gantos

For my sanity, a couple of them I’ve listened to as audio books so that I can get off the couch and do a little sewing. Only two more weeks of class and 11 more books to go. Then I can start reading for pleasure again, which seems sort of strange to say since so much of the reading I’ve done this summer has been pleasurable reading. On my list for after-school reading – Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer, Bonk by Mary Roach, The Host by Stephenie Meyer and I’m literally drawing a blank on what else is on my list. I only have three weeks off before school starts in last August but I plan on getting more done than just reading. There’s a quilt the desperately needs to be finished and I have some fabric for tops that I’d like to get made before it gets too chilly to wear sleeveless tops.

My Adult Popular Literature is an online class and I’ve been reading science fiction, fantasy, romance and non-fiction books for that class. I’m in the middle of a romance novel now called Be Still My Vampire Heart. It’s really been a fun read and one that I didn’t expect to like. I still have to read three mysteries and a western.

This weekend I was working on a book talk that I have to do for Adult Pop Lit. I’m doing it on one of my favorite books, Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld. It’s been two years and after reading over 90 books since then I needed a bit of a refresher. I’m not one to reread books but I reread Prep to refresh my memory and I enjoyed it as much as I did the first time I read it. As one of my friends said yesterday, “The cover really doesn’t do it justice.” If you like coming-of-age stories and haven’t heard of Prep, I highly recommend it.

My other class is Information Books for Children. It’s basically Children’s Non-Fiction but since there are fairy tales, poetry, plays and literature cataloged in the Dewey numbers with the “non-fiction” in a library, information books fits the books better. We’ve read some great and not-so-great books for the class. The point isn’t to read all wonderful books because we need to learn about the not-so-great books out there too. My instructor is wonderful, she’s the same instructor I had for my Children’s Lit class last fall that I loved.

The last several weeks have been a whirlwind. June has also not been a friendly month for the Lee kitties. My parents lost their second cat, Lucy, last week. She hadn’t been doing well since her friend Milly died on the first of June. My parents were out of town and Lucy was boarding at the vet. She’d been having trouble breathing on Tuesday and just slipped away later in the day. At least she went peacefully and knew she was loved, she was definitely a spoiled cat. My mom made sure of that.

This past weekend, Bryan and I decided to make it a three day weekend to celebrate his birthday and both took Friday off. Friday, we just relaxed and got a lot of reading done. We’d planned to go to Springfield, Illinois but the threat of bad thunderstorms made us rethink our plans. Saturday, we did one of our favorite things – blueberry picking! There is nothing quite as scrumptious as fresh, handpicked blueberries. We thought we’d pick just enough to get us through a week since we’ll probably go back this Friday. We had not idea we’d picked almost five pounds. So we gave some to our friend L and her husband to enjoy since we know they won’t be able to get out there for a while. Then Sunday, L brought us some black raspberries from her garden to add to the berry delightfulness in our house. Even Chloe seems to like the fresh berries, though she can’t eat them. She gets so excited when we open the container of berries. You’d think we had kitty cat food stashed way in those bags by the way she acts.

Bryan also spent part of the weekend getting his Etsy shop and new blog set up.

Once I get some photos of my sewing I’ll post them. I hope everyone is having a good summer.