Memorial Day weekend has come and gone, with barbecues, giant bowls of watermelon balls, languid afternoon naps, final moving chores, mowing lawns, saying goodbye to the bright red poppies and the dark violets in our old yard, saying hello to light and afternoon breezes in our new place. My belly is growing, our little girl is kicking more and more each day, and I am just loving how summer is suddenly here!

Meanwhile, weeks have passed and we still don’t have internet at home, due to unexpected delays involving the condo builder and other mundane things, so I haven’t been online as much. Just wanted to drop by to say hello and post a few pictures.

Here are the salted caramel brownies we made for Memorial Day (click through for recipe on Flickr):

And here, slowly coming together, is my downstairs sewing-and-letterpress office:

It doesn’t look like much yet, and right after I took this picture it was invaded and colonized by the pernicious Miscellaneous Moving Boxes virus, but picture my sewing machine set up in front of the chair (that’s a piece of orange oilcloth I use so fabric moves easier, as the bare wood of the desk catches fabric in an annoying way), and maybe a letterpress project in progress down where my childhood dollhouse sits (waiting repairs and to be set up in the nursery).

Here is the letterpress space down at the end near the door:

During the two years at our rental house, we never uncrated the press, and our type is still saran-wrapped into its type drawers, and I have to find the rollers and ink and buy some new ink cleaner and and and. But I can’t tell you just how excited I am to have it out where we can use it again! Our last project was our wedding save-the-dates, and although I might just be insane, I have this notion that the next project will be a birth announcement card, if I can make it in advance with fill-in lines for the birth weight and time. I’m scheming and checking out some beautiful cuts and initials on eBay while I try to decide if I’m crazy enough to try this project.

My little office might seem like a dim space, especially with just its overhead lighting so far, but it is snugly insulated by the garage on one side and the next townhouse on the other side, so it very cool even on the hottest of days. I picture this as my sanctuary when my belly is at its biggest, the summer heat at its highest, and the need for distractions and nesting projects quite urgent. I will post more progress photos as it gets decorated and I start some of the projects I have in mind (letterpress aside, I have lap quilts, a baby quilt, and summer tops swimming through my head). It’s going to be a wonderful summer, I can tell already! A project-filled summer, a chilled watermelon summer, a summer in which I finish growing my baby and we make this home truly ours.