If you give a Ninja a purse...

I'm having a hard time figuring out how to introduce violence into my child's life.  I don't mean it like that. It's just that I:
1. Don't want j to play at murdering people with toy guns;
2. Don't want her to play at beating and murdering people in violent video games; and
3. I don't want her to think of violence in TV shows/movies as entertainment.

My parents' approach was very straightforward: murder is awful, so it's not funny to make light of that by pretending to kill other people.  As far as I can tell, my sister is having no problem raising her own kids with this same philosophy.  You should hear her go off on the recent glorification of the pirate ('Why are people dressing their kids up as murdering, thieving rapists for Halloween? Pirates are cool now? Tell that to the fishermen of Somalia!')

My issue is, I believe all that too, I really do. But...
1. I love games where you actually shoot someone with something: laser tag and paintball;
2. My husband has completed, I mean, gotten 100% on multiple versions of Grand Theft Auto; and
3. There is something about ninjas that seems really cool to me, even if they were basically spies that assassinated people for money. Samurais, probably better people with their sense of honor and strict code of conduct, but somehow not as cool to me (or anyone else - I've never seen a samurai on Halloween). I like the guys with the masks and the swords and the pretty stars that they throw so gracefully (I know, into peoples' foreheads).

How am I supposed to handle this as a parent?  Luckily, I don't have to figure it out yet (although I'm very open to suggestions... and justifications).  I hesitated, but did not resist buying this fabric a while ago.  I mean, I was just going to stick it in my stash.  Why does that have to be a big ethical dilemma?

As we were packing for Seattle I realized I'd only made a hostess gift (those napkins) for my friend, but had nothing for her 7 year-old daughter.  Somehow I don't remember 7 being an age when I was really into pretty napkins. Can you see where I'm going?

We haven't spent a lot of time together in the last few years, so all I knew about her I'd learned from her mom on Facebook.  And that amounted to: she just went to Disneyland and she likes Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

I went for this reversible purse, which was a quick 50 minute project, including picking fabric and ironing!

I figured, when she's feeling a little Disney, she can use it this way:

And for her ninja days,

Girl after my own heart, once I gave the purse to her I never saw the polka dots again.  What does she carry in it? A book called Unlikely Friendships about different animal species who have sweet friendships with each other, of course.

For a minute I felt weird about bringing the ninja thing into someone else's house - it's like giving a girl her first Barbie and wondering if you aren't giving her a first shove towards anorexia... but then I saw her wooden ninja sword (that she's not allowed to touch people with, otherwise it will get thrown away).  I've got no answers, I'm not sure her mom does either.  But I have a feeling ninjas are going to make their way into my house soon enough, and I've got at least half a yard of that fabric.

An Ape, a Rainbow and a Hostess Gift

Every summer should end with an epic trip home - especially if you grew up in Seattle.  It's the only time you might actually see some sun (no need to get defensive, Seattleites), and even if you don't, you've at least gotten three months of it somewhere else.

After a year of non-stop Goodnight Gorilla I was excited to finally take j to a zoo - but I've been holding out for Woodland Park (think 'habitats' in place of cages). The Gorillas were fine, but it was an Ape that swooped down from a tree to show j some love.

Love Connection at the Woodland Park Zoo

 And here's a quick summary of the rest:

Short cloud break before we were covered in fog again (Orcas Island)

If you ever want to find a silver lining, you got to have a cloudy day
(we listened to Kacey Musgraves non-stop)

Best place to stay with a kid: Pebble Cove Farm, Orcas

Bouchart Gardens - on my list of places to see for over 20 years!

Victoria stole my heart with fleurs everywhere.

In Canada, the toddler playground has pygmy goats and limitless brushes

The Seattle leg of the trip was pretty short, but the best part was staying with an old friend.  You know you've got a connection when you can cover 1. What you believe about god, and why it's important to figure that out; 2. What country makes the best legos; 3. What love language you speak; and 4. How and when to potty train, all in one conversation.  What gift do you bring for her, when in addition to the spare bedroom and good company she throws you a party and makes her seven-year-old play with your toddler for hours on end?

Well.  I'm really into these Kokkas - I can't get away from this fabric line.  So I put together a hot pad/trivet and some napkins:

This is my favorite way to do napkins now: sewn pillowcase style (leaving a three-inch hole), turned inside out and topstitched. So much faster than a traditional mitered corner,

 and cuter,

and reversible, so you can mix it up!

All-in-all it was a great trip, but even restaurants and ferries can get old.  We knew when it was time to come home.

And while we couldn't reschedule our flight for that day, we did get back here eventually.  Now it's all 60 degrees and bags of apples at the grocery store.  For those of you keeping track, I have about two weeks to finish my 40 sweater, so stay tuned!