Side by Side

On Thursday nights, about the time when my kids head off to bed, Heather parks her car in the meadow and lets herself in.  Our night begins with yoga, followed by hours of conversation, something chocolatey and sometimes sewing.  This weekly ritual has knit our hearts together in friendship as only time and secrets can.  If I wake up groggy on Friday morning from an especially late tete-a-tete, I never regret it.

In February Heather fell pregnant with her first child.  The news was wonderful, though simultaneously difficult given that Brandon and I were also trying.  Eventually I came to accept that our stories would be different and time made my joy for her grow.  Now at 7 weeks pregnant myself, I am beginning to feel inside that I've really joined her, that I really do get to be a part of this pregnancy fun from the inside out.

to make.. nesting cubes

This project is a symbol of that shared joy.  We started it in June, when I began feeling pregnant, even if that was just a precarious hope at the time.  We are each making a set of six stackable, nesting cubes from Anna Maria Horner's book Handmade Beginnings.

Nesting Cubes in progress

Each Thursday night after-yoga-sewing session is about 1.5 hours long, with lots of chatting and water breaks.  When you break up a project into these short, specific bits it's easy to notice how long handmades take.  The first night we mainly just cut fabrics - 60 squares each to be exact.  I pulled random happy fabrics from my stash (above), while Heather is using a gentle organic collection from Cloud 9 (below).

Nesting Cubes in progress

On our second sew, I cut the fusible interfacing into tidy piles, we did some easy sewing steps and then pulled out ribbon.  Alice of Fresh Modern Fabric sent me ribbon trimmings leftover from making her pretty ribbon bundles.  I love these neutral striped ribbons!  They're a nice contrast to all the satiny ribbons available in big box stores.  

Nesting Cubes in progress

These ribbons are pinned to what will be come the top of each nesting box.  They'll stick out to entice little fingers... and little mouths too. 

Nesting Cubes in progress

It's fun to see the two versions of the same project emerge side by side.

Mmm... I do think side by side sewing is the best of any kind.