28:15

made for valentine's day from this pattern.

6 months and i'm getting better

maeve is 6 (!) months already. she amazes me everyday. she loves to smile, especially when she is watching calvin, who is by far her favorite person to watch. she is a snuggler and a talker, making sounds constantly. many of her teeth are coming in at the same time so she drools more that i have seen any baby drool. multiple layers of clothing get soaked through. i even made her some special drool bibs, backed with some thick organic french terry (my cousin calls them her 'droolry'). there is nothing i enjoy more that watching her sleep, peacefully next to me, gently sucking her thumb.

it is tradition in my family to celebrate half birthdays until we reach the age of 10 so we celebrated maeve's first half year with a little singing and a little rice cereal (which maeve spit out every last bit of) and a new birthday crown. do you see that fancy embroidery? i have been practicing. i got this book on sale at michael's a few months ago (just after i made this) and i have found this simple, colorful handwork fun and relaxing. i did a stem stitch for the M and a straight stitch with french knots for the little stars. i love how it turned out.

happy half-birthday maeve!

gifts

i made these little reusable bags for calvin's playgroup friends. each gift consisted of a large sandwich size bag and a smaller snack bag. i also included a napkin and bamboo spork. i lined the bags with PUL and sewed aplix to the tops so that the kids can easily open and close the bags themselves. i had all these supplies on hand (but originally bought from verybaby) and used fabric from my stash for the outsides.

i especially love how the napkins turned out. my friend made a blanket f0r maeve that had giant ricrak going around the outside. it inspired me to do medium ricrak as a border for the napkins. it added a little bit of color and fanciness. i put some organic cotton terry on the back of each napkin (also from verybaby) for added thickness, to clean up any messy faces or spills.

hopefully they will use get some use out of them. calvin has been using my prototypes for the last couple of weeks and i have washed them a few times to see how they stood up. i am happy to say that the bags are still perfect. calvin has loved using them and they came out of the wash ready for more use.

today's reflection: the best place

i would have to say home this year. there is no place like home.

maeve's bird mobile

i used this pattern. it was so easy and she loves it! and i love it. we spent quite awhile yesterday just staring at it, twirl round and round.

i also spent quite awhile staring at these striped legs. the tights are hand-me-downs from a friend's chicken costume. i find them hilarious and so, so cute.

martinmas!

these are the lanterns we made for matinmas this year. we just used jars, tissue paper and glue. it was very easy and calvin actually did 90% of it. he has carried it around everywhere since we made them. i overheard him singing "this little light of mine" today as he was playing with it. i only wish i had a video camera with me.

autumn cooking and craft

calvin and i made the maple nut granola from feeding the whole family a few weeks ago for my mom. she was coming for a visit and she loves yogurt and granola for breakfast. my mom didn't love it, but calvin and i sure did. it was delicious! great for breakfast, snacking or even dessert!

i also made the emerald city salad from the same book. as i was making it, i wondered if it would taste too earthy because it is mainly wild rice and kale. i loved it. calvin loved it. even my mom loved it. it was a terrific and very healthy salad to have it the fridge to put on the side of anything. my mom and i even put it on tacos.

my sister took calvin out for a walk and they collected some fallen pine cones, leaves and acorns. then they drew pictures of their collection. such a simple and wonderful idea. (the stick colored pencils came from my aunt, they were perfect for this project!)

busy

::columbia graduation::

::waffle weave dishcloth::

::cloth napkins for the kids::

::dahlias planted in the porch planters::

::shoes:one pair to gift and one to keep::

::cloth diaper burp cloths::

the last month has been filled with graduation, lots of knitting and sewing, and spring planting. school ends wednesday and then i am ready for some relaxation time before baby makes her debut. if only the rain would stop so that i could lay in the hammock, sipping lemonade. i am trying to make the most of these rainy days and chip away at my crazy long, must do before baby arrives to-do list. i am off to do just that.

28::20

the festival of martinmas

Golden light is turning grey,
Mists begin to rule the day.
Bare the trees, their branches lift;
Clouds of dead leaves earthward drift.

Through the field the farmer goes,
Seeds of ripened corn he sows'
Trusts the earth will hold it warm,
Shelter it from cold and harm.

For he knows that warmth and light
Live there, hidden from our sight;
And beneath a sheltering wing,
Deep below, new life will spring!


-elisabeth gmeyner

our local waldorf preschool celebrated the festival of martinmas today with a puppet show and lantern walk. they shared this poem, which i love. i now have it beneath a magnet on the fridge. it will remind me that although the days are mainly dark now, light will come with time.

also... i am taking a knitting class and learning so much. did you know i am a left-handed knitter? neither did i. i will share what i have made soon.

the party and the day after

our halloween party was a success. the little ones had fun and played well together. all of the moms and dads got along as well. i did not want to go overboard on decorating because a) we don't have a lot of money for decorations and b) the decorations you can buy at party stores are often a bit cheezy and get thrown away so quickly. so i went for the less is more approach and ordered these little paper trees from here. i punched holes in each one and hung them on some baker's twine. i also got 10 helium balloons with extra long strings on them so that the little ones could reach them easily. i just threw them in the livingroom and i was done. oh and i also put up the birthday bunting i make for calvin's first birthday. i liked how it turned out... festive without being overdone.

it was a potluck. everyone brought delicious food. i tried to make the chedder cheese cobwebs out of this months food magazine. see photo above. they looked great until i cooked them. then they turned into chedder cheese blobs. they actually tasted okay and they were gone by the end of the night. we also made the acorn squash quesodillas and the kale and swiss chard gratin. they were perfect.

saturday morning sam and calvin spent a long time palying the guitar. it is amazing to me that right when calvin picked up the guitar he started strumming and singing. no particular song, but definitely sing-songy words came out. then today at breakfast he started singing 'a bushel and a peck'. i melted right there. then when he got to the end, he pointed at me when he sang "about you, about you". i choked back tears as my little one kept singing.

100th post

wow. 100 posts. 100 ramblings about what i am thinking/doing/making.


i started this blog to communicate with friends and family that live in distant lands about what was happening in my everyday life. it has turned into a place for me to show/write about my life and also a place to meet new (cyber) friends. the online community of artsy/crafty moms is amazing and special. our moms did not have this medium to use as a resource for inspiration, gratification, and validation. i cherish it daily.


in honor of my 100th post i am doing a little give-away. leave a comment by friday sept. 12 and i will pick a person at random to win a handmade fabric box. i made some for calvin here. i use them to hold calvin's books, bibs, and other assorted things.

happy 100th post!

baby shower

i went a friend's baby shower on saturday. it was animal themed so i made these brownies (using ari's award winning recipe) and put animal crackers on top. the animal crackers added a nice little crunch. so good.

i made a quilt for the new little one. they do not know the gender so i went with yellow and orange. i used the pattern from here. all the fabrics were from my stash so they came from all different places at all different times.

i am back to work this week, part-time. i am looking forward to the predictability of a schedule, but not spending mornings with calvin depresses me a bit. i am eager to put my newly aquired masters degree in literacy to work.

feeling gifty?

this is a sneak peak at two gifts i just got into the mail. the first is to my little bako boy.

these two little gifts match this blanket that i made for him just after he was born.

i also got this belated gift in the mail:

i loved making this. (it has not been delivered yet... so i am being a bit vague as to what it is) it is an adapted pattern from this book. i did two things i had never done before: make my own bias tape and use fabric ink to stamp letters onto fabric. both came out awesome and were easier than i thought they were going to be. i foresee lots of bias tape making in my future. i used the fabric ink pads that i got at the renegade craft fair (from the small object).

also, speaking of gift giving... i really want someone to gift this book to me. maybe for my half birthday, which is aug. 25th? just saying...

clean desk

this is my old desk. my used-to-be, very messy creative space. it was not very conducive to creativity as you can imagine. my master's degree has really taken a toll on my cleanliness (much to my husbands chagrin plus i was not the tidiest of people to begin with...). as i look at these photos i feel like one of the people on the british show how clean is your house. i watch and i wonder how people can let their house get so out of control messy. well now i know. firsthand.

here is my desk now:

beautiful, huh? i have already sewn a few things and kept it clean. i tried to label everything so that every 'thing' has a place. (i was very inspired by the office of my friends kelly + jen).

i feel so lucky to have a sewing space that can be a permanent space (in our old apartments i always took over the dining room table and had to pack up everything after a project was complete or when we wanted to eat dinner, ugh) so i am determined to keep it tidy. maybe i will try to post a monthly picture here so that i am accountable to you for keeping it straighted up. maybe that is too much commitment. i do believe that creativity leads to a messy desk, but also creating needs space, clean organized space. okay, i will keep it clean. at least for today.

and the winner is...

sorry this took so long...

the winner of the 'make it yourself'' book is...dadadadadadada...(that's a drum roll)... jessica. congratulations jess! i am looking forward to seeing the macrame bag that you make!

make it yourself and a give-away

i first saw this set of books here and i was instantly smitten. i found the entire set on ebay for $4.99. these books are dated, but filled with how-to's for everything that involves fabric, yarn, embroidery, beads, rug making, and other assorted crafts.

i am in the middle of deciding what to make first. with 20 volumes i have been doing a lot of perusing and page flipping.

this is volume 2 and it can be yours. post a comment to this post between now and friday may 16th and i will randomly pick a winner.

it includes directions for making this "gay bedcover" (i am in love with that cradle bed!) and house slippers you can knit for the man of the house. awesome. happy commenting!

on a different note, i got a postcard today from a friend that sends lots of postcards. it was hilarious and made me laugh just when i needed a laugh. i love postcards. there is something about them that email could never replace. i love that they only have a bit of space to write so one has to carefully think about which details to include and which to leave out. don't get me wrong... i love technology, but there is something special about a postcard.

favorite things

calvin is rapidly changing from a baby who goes along with life to a toddler with specific ideas and expectations. it is amazing to watch. his vocabulary in the last few weeks has doubled. he has added apple, help, book and hot. he only says them though, when HE wants to.

of course he understands way more than he can say. sam and i love to give him a specific direction to see if he follows it. sam asked him to go get the ball and he did. also when faced with two differently sized blocks, he can also pick up the bigger one. one of my favorite things is to watch him think. it is hard to believe that just a year ago calvin was a helpless, cuddly peanut, who slept the day way.

here are a few of calvin's favorite things:

dirt

apples and blueberries

hummus

(notice that two of them are food...)

i have been busy with school. finals are coming up and i should be studying (now), but i have found some time to create. i am almost done with a quilt for baby leo, then i begin one for baby joey.

another friend of mine just told me she was pregnant on friday, so there is one more quilt to add to the to-do list. this is her second baby... her first was born the same week as calvin! i can't imagine being pregnant again. although on my college friends' blog i seemed to be a favorite to have another wee one soon. seeing all of the brand new tiny ones lately has got me thinking...just thinking.

(easter) bunny

i have successfully finished a stuffed bunny for calvin for easter. i used the free pattern from here. it was a bit frustrating at times but i am happy with the final result. i really like the patterned fabric that i used. at first i ruled it out because it was flowery and calvin is a boy (boys don't like flowery right?!?!) . but then i ruled it back in. i hope that calvin will be a boy who likes flowery. i mean who could not love this wee bunny? i need to work on my embroidery a bit. i want to do more of it. i think this book or maybe this one would help me. there is a great tutorial here that i used to help me with the belly button (calvin loves his belly button and any other ones that he can get to right now so i had to include one on the bunny). i made a french knot so that it would stick out a bit.

i started the tradition last easter of giving calvin an interesting easter basket each year. my friend ari's mom did this for her growing up. last year he got a trashcan (a hip, should i say 'fierce', one for his room). i am excited about this year's basket. i will be sure to post pics. on a side note... can a one year old eat peeps? i thought about getting calvin some, but i wasn't sure.

today is my friend jill's due date. i haven't heard anything yet, so i am assuming she is still prego. i am wishing her luck and an easy delivery (whenever it happens...). i am still working on her quilt so the longer he stays in, the longer i have to work on it. i had just finished calvin's quilt at about midnight the night before i had him and i always wonder if he was waiting for his quilt to be done before he made his debut. i hope jack is not doing the same thing? i better get quilting just in case.

29:27

calvin received this 'charlie brown' hat today from his auntie crissy. it is her own original super cute design. she also sent me a little handmade love for my birthday. there is nothing better than getting something that someone else made. as my pile of half done and haven't started projects is mounting and getting a bit stressful, crissy's gift reminded me of why i love to make gifts for people.

29:15

stuffed animal i made for a friend. it is based on a stuffed animal that i saw somewhere else in the blogisphere, but unfortunately i can't remember where. when i gave it to the little two year old, she looked at it, shook it and said, "broken! no batteries!"