I spent my first weekend away from the boys and visited my high school friends that I hadn”t seen in 7 years to celebrate a graduation and a 30th birthday! The five of us that spent our Saturday nights at Village Inn writing poetry and making a mess, way too much time on our makeup, countless hours laughing together (and let”s not forget the cat fights)–we met up for our own mini reunion and girls trip.
I love the desert, at least for a snapshot in time; I couldn”t see myself living there. I love the vast expanses, the intensity of the heat and vegetation, the sort of hollow sounds everything seems to make–crunching rocks, birds pecking. It was a great weekend. We enjoyed the sun, had a lovely brunch at a fancy resort, did some shopping, got pedicures, and my girlfriend redyed my hair just like old times! Solo plane rides will never be the same for me, after carting a baby around on one. I was so relieved to not have to put on my circus hat and entertain a wee one for three hours, and instead pick up a good book and the snacks I brought and bunker down for a few hours–really a rare treat for a mama!
Many thanks to my dear husband who watched Uly all weekend so I could partake in the fun. You”re the best, babe.
May 28th, 2010
I fell in love with this line of fabric–especially the guitars. I love the colors and I like to have black in the mix, too. Black baby things are hard to find, which surprises me since people wear so much black these days. Who wants to be surrounded in pastels all the time? I had a few of the complementary fabrics on hand, and I whipped this up just by placing fabric squares together and mixing and matching until I liked the final combo. A girlfriend of mine always makes the backs of her quilts unique, so I copied her and gave the back a splash of animals.
In other news, we””””ve officially moved into our new house! I””””m so excited. We finally have some extra space–for things and for entertaining. We””””re all feeling pretty settled and the cat seems happier than she has been in ages. Our new house has tons of light and some creepy areas for her to explore. We have a backyard, which Uly is thrilled about. Whenever he takes your hands to walk around the house, he leads you directly to the back door and points and looks at you–very subtle. I will have pics to show you soon.
And, my sweet baby boy is one year today. I had a pic of him eating his birthday cake picked out to upload, but the camera ran out of juice and the battery is packed up some place. I can””t believe it””s been a whole year already. I feel so overwhelmingly blessed to have been able to spend a whole year with such a sweet little creature–to watch him grow and learn and develop; it””s such a wondrous and beautiful adventure.
May 10th, 2010
Leocardia on Etsy
Rie Elise Larsen
These are a couple of cute things I saw in various places online. I love that little crocodile pencil case. I need to remember this for when Ulysses is headed to school. What little boy wouldn”t love it? And I”m really taken with that wreath/mobile thing. Isn”t it gorgeous? I”m going to keep posting the wreaths I find around, since apparently it”s my new obsession. It sort of looks like a metal frame, but perhaps it”s paper.
It is busy busy around our house. I feel like I don”t have time to even breath, but it”s all good and fun things. Moving, baby showers, birthday parties, friends in town (and then there”s the taxes and some other not so fun stuff).
April 16th, 2010
These are two little dresses I made for the many friends in my life with little ones on the way. I based it off of a dress I bought at Target that had little bloomers with it–oh so cute. They were fun little projects and fairly easy to make–minus the ruffle on that first one! I had a hard time gathering four layers of quilting cotton fabric, since I wanted the inside to be finished. I used some vintage trim on the second one, which I think is a bit more modern-looking and equally cute. I would like to try making the bloomers, but I didn””t have any jersey or elastic on hand. I””ll have to pick some up so I””m ready to roll next time.
It looks like we finally have our house! I””m so excited. We””ll be moving from Capitol Hill to Fremont, which will hopefully be a fun change for us. I will really miss our neighbors and being a block from Trader Joe””s, but I””m really looking forward to a new neighborhood and a house we can call our own, and most importantly, my very own yard with a garden spot! I have no idea how I””m going to get us moved, but we””ve got deadlines so I””m sure it will happen.
Hope you are well.
April 7th, 2010
I hosted a little baby shower at our house last weekend. My co-host planned a lovely little project for us to work on for the mom-to-be at the shower. We embroidered quilt squares for her little girl”s quilt. Lynnette cut out butterfly wings and body parts for us to hand applique on to the gorgeous fabric. It looked so chic, you could have charged hundreds of dollars for the finished piece (we sent the mom home with the squares–she”s a sewer herself). It was so relaxing, sitting in a baby-free house (that”s not counting the 7 in vitro babies in attendance), chatting, grazing, and hand sewing butterflies. I rather enjoyed myself.
March 29th, 2010
Ulysses and I have been making trips to the thrift store. I”ve been trying to get us out of the house as much as possible lately. I hear that shopping becomes all but impossible with babies a bit older than him, so I”m trying to get my fill!
There are several thrift stores I like, but we mostly go to the big Goodwill on Dearborn. It”s pretty close to our house, always has parking, and there are no stairs inside so I can mange it with the stroller. I”ve been bringing home mostly child-related items, like these vintage books and sweet bee pull toy. How cute is that? It was buried under the rubble of some pretty gross toys and looked like it had been deserted for a while. I felt badly for the poor little bee.
March 23rd, 2010
Well, what do you know? Blogging inspired me to actually make something! (Being sarcastic here. Blogging is what has always inspired me to make things.) I sat down while the baby was happy and crawling around with his toys and the hubby was watching the epic winter olympics hockey game to cut some paper flowers. It was so satisfying to cut little shapes and patterns. The project took me about an hour and a half, which is perfect for a busy mom. I think I have pinpointed the reason (well, one of many) of my recent crafty hiatus: it”s just too messy.
Our house is about 900 square feet with three people and a cat. Our house is an already full kitchen (my penchant for collecting vintage dishes and pyrex, plus necessities), modern-ish living room (that is supposed to be somewhat void of things), second bathroom (the shower is full of now out-of-use baby items. there”s a stroller, baby bath, bumbo, bassinet, you get the picture), our bedroom (that now has to house both of our wardrobes and all our books), and the baby”s room (with all of his things–two strollers! hanging laundry!–and a closet that keeps all my craft supplies). Oh my, I feel cluttered just talking about all of this. And really, I feel like we do a pretty decent job of keeping a tight ship. I purge regularly, but with a small space, it”s easy to fill full. And a couple of items in use, even something like a box of matches, girl scout cookies, and a candle on the table (the current state) make our living room feel messy. Imagine the living room with a craft project! So, yes, this and no time have really put a damper on crafting around here.
Which has me really pondering this whole buying a new home thing. I want in-city and I want a craft space–two things that do not seem to coincide with our budget. I have seen some really great examples of people turning some very small spaces into some really efficient living. And, when they are all nice and tidy and not in use, I think, “I can do that!” But what happens on projects that are in-progress? I”m still figuring this out. So in the meantime, quilting and paper flowers are just my cup of tea.
March 2nd, 2010
Tutorial here
Tutorial here
on Etsy
on Etsy
on Etsy
I”ve been collecting images of wreaths for a while now–not that I”ve made any mind you. But don”t you love these? I like the idea of having a wreath for every season–something festive to adorn your door. I”ve got a great one for Halloween and then there”s my ornament wreath. Posie Gets Cozy made a gorgeous winter wreath a few years ago that I couldn”t seem to find in my search. Does anyone remember that? It was inspired by that French Marie Claire crafts magazine…
We”ve had lovely February weather here in Seattle. It”s drizzly and rainy today, but it”s hard to mind after being fortunate to spend the majority of the day outside with my little one sans coat yesterday. We took a long walk with baby in the front pack and then went out again in the stroller to the park to swing. Uly”s emotions are really starting to set in. He”ll be gloriously happy one minute and then fades to instant tears the next–those emotions are just mere steps from each other I suppose.
We had to walk away from the house we almost bought in Ravenna. It was a sad day, but the inspection was horrible! You should have seen the electronic report. It was 17 pages long and I think would have scared anyone away. Such a cute house, though. We were so scarred from the process that we”ve decided to mostly pursue new construction. Is that silly? After envisioning our weekends full of painting fascia, rebuilding porches, trimming blackberry bushes, we have a major case of cold feet. There are aspects of apartment living that I really do enjoy, after all.
February 26th, 2010
Ulysses turned nine-months-old yesterday. I can hardly believe it’s been that long, and then again sometimes it seems like a decade has passed. Here’s baby in a diaper box we were playing with a few weeks ago.
He’s been sick this week and very in need of his mama, a rare thing really. He’s an independent little man for the most part. He’s very curious and makes his way around the house examining things, touching them repeatedly with his little pointer finger. He’s drawn to tiny specks of lint on the carpet, freckles on my arm–that sort of thing. He especially loves to watch people. He’ll transform from completely unmanageable with me alone at our house to the happiest kid on the block when put in a room with other babies and people. (Not unlike his papa.) We have so much fun and I cherish every breath we have together–at the same time wondering how I can cope with all of the demands on my time. I haven’t sat at my sewing machine in ages, although I do pick up the baby’s quilt to hand sew every once in a while. I’ve gone back to work and we’re house hunting, which has claimed any free seconds I might have. But I’m rolling with this flow (there’s no ebb around these parts) for a season or two.
Chara Michele over at Sew Click Create was generous enough to shoot our family for free to use as part of her portfolio back in the early fall; Uly is about four months here. Yes, I’m just now getting around to posting! She did the most fabulous work and we were hard-pressed to pick out a handful of the images to frame and give to friends and family. She’s local to Seattle and I highly recommend her services–everyone needs professional pictures! Head over to her blog and professional site to see her work.
February 11th, 2010
This was the Christmas present I made for Ulysses. He doesn’t seem nearly as in to him as I am! I based him off of a Delingos softie I bought at a fancy toy store for a gift for another baby this Christmas. I couldn’t help but try my hand at it. I used leftover fabric from Uly’s quilt for the back and nose, and minky for the main body.
Things have been incredibly busy for me. I started back to work in December and haven’t had more than a moment to myself, which of course I’ve spent cleaning or doing some sort of task I can’t get to otherwise–certainly not sewing. I’m afraid I’ll likely remain a little quiet in this space until my life takes a sweeter pace again. We’re looking to buy a house and have had a few let downs already. Maybe once we get into our new space my machine won’t be in the baby’s room, conveniently making it impossible to craft when the baby is asleep!
February 2nd, 2010
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