A Birthday Boy

December is truly a busy time for our family. There were four birthdays in our immediate family this month in addition to the usual hubbub of parties and family get-togethers that make up what is the month of December.

I am very relieved to be done with my huge project list and on to the fun stuff Really, all projects are fun but when I can work on them at a leisurely pace, that is even more fun! I will have to take photos of all of the great fabrics that I received for Christmas to add to my stash. Yahoo!

My sweetie pie's second birthday was on Saturday the 29th. I can't believe that it was two years ago I was in the hospital holding my first baby boy in my arms. Time really flies! So, to celebrate his big day and to also illustrate his love of anything that has to do with transportation, I made this little shirt. Illustrated by myself and using an iron-on transfer that I ran through my inkjet, I think that this little shirt turned out great! It was so much fun that I've decided to share the design with anyone who has a special little one out there with a birthday coming up. Be sure to check back in a while as I will have more versions of this design available for those not turning two.

Here are some shots of the shirt in action:
Cooking up a batch of special birthday goulash.

Creating some artwork that bears a striking resemblance to a Jackson Pollock painting:


I forgot to add this last little "beauty" on my last post about Christmas gifts. The bag is made in soft corduroy with the fun circle patterned cotton as the accent pleat.


Happy New Year!

Party #1 Down, More to Come...

Isn't getting together with family this time of year fun? Okay, maybe not so much fun for everyone but for us, it was a great time. We just came back from family Christmas party #1 and will be taking some time off tomorrow before we rush off to the next holiday. We have been so busy this month, that we forgot to take the cushions off of our porch furniture before the snow came. Oh well! I think it looks very pretty - sort of like a Symphony in White still life by Whistler. Or maybe not.

Okay, so I can show some of my gift photos now that they have been given. Below are the many zip pouches that I was able to whip out for the many teachers at our day care center. I was nervous about giving these as gifts but they were met with lots of praise so I am glad they made the girls happy.



This little monkey went to my sweet niece, Naomi, along with one of the plush balls. I kept the other one for Ava to munch on.


Here is the monkey getting her first bit of lovin' from her new owner.


I hope this post finds everyone happy, healthy and having some fun with family and friends. Merry Christmas!

The Cookies ...

Are frosted. Finally! I had a little too much fun with the pastry bags and toothpicks. But that's how you dress up a cookie that's lost its shape in the baking process.

I hope everyone is having a great and productive weekend!

On the path...

Thoughts on Fine Arts and Play Dough

I am still not finished with most of my handmade Christmas gifts and I haven't really had much to post or had time to post this month and thought, mistakenly, that most other bloggers like me would be the same. But I was wrong! These super women are baking (I've yet to get my chilling dough out of the fridge), knitting, sewing, crafting, decorating, donating to charity and feeding their families at the same time. Holy cow.

I, on the other hand, am contemplating this watercolor sketch. It's the last official time I took up a paintbrush to create art (rather than do touch-ups around the house). I was pregnant with my first child (who is now almost 2 - gasp!) and was waiting for his arrival. So about this time of the year, two years ago, I got out one of my old art history books and started watercolor sketches just for something different to do. I never really finished up this sketch because Chandler came and life has never really been the same since. For the better of course.

So, in the basement sit my watercolors, oils, stretcher bars, canvases, fine art papers, charcoal, stained glass, etc. Upstairs I have crayons, paper and play dough. It's pretty great - check it out!


As for decorating, all we had to do was put up the tree, put up the lights and plop the star on top to really geek out our toddler. Every morning when we come down the stairs, he points to the star and says, "Big Star!" and sometimes does a little dance at the foot of the tree in all his toddler joy. It's not that much work for us and gives the giggles to our boy so it's great. Oh, and also in the basement - our Christmas decorations.



And one of these days, soon I hope, I will get up a few photos of my Christmas projects so I can join the fray. But for now, we're just chillin' and keeping it simple.

Traveling down the path...

In a Holiday Tizzy

It feels like it has been so long since I've been able to do a decent post. Being a mother of two under the age of two makes it really hard sometimes to do anything. Some days, a major goal of mine is to just luxuriate in an evening shower - I do look forward to them when I can get one in (Sorry, this is too much information.). A lot of the thanks can go to sweet hubby because he stands on the lookout for crying kiddos while I lock myself in the bathroom for a while.

I made these cute, cute balls last week from a pattern I got from the Grand Revival Designs blog. Check it out - these were so much fun to make! I don't think the recipient of these plush balls will be reading my blog anytime soon so I feel that it's safe to post these. I used some leftover fabric scraps and ribbon and they turned out great! The ribbon is for little hands to grab a hold of and either chew or use them to throw the balls - wheee! I hope she'll like them. I just have to make the smallest size to round out the duo to a balanced trio and I'll be done with this project.

Another reason I haven't really posted in a while is because it's so DARK here in Michigan so early. I have to get really creative in my basement and with Photoshop but really, natural light does so much better. I have quite a few items to check off my list in about two weeks before D-day but it's very fun.

I got my yarn in the mail today - yahoo! I'll be finishing hubby's cable knit scarf in no time. However, I did find a great new little project that I hope to start on sometime for some little one, or maybe my little ones. It's a fair isle cap for babies. I also found a CUTE pattern for an earflap hat for babies/toddlers from Julie.

See you soon!

Quilt Block #4

TA-DA!

Vintage Knits

Don't you just LOVE used bookstores? You don't? Well, you should hop into a few once in a while - you never know what you'll find. Beth, you would like this little shop but I'm not sure if you and I popped in there when you were last in East Lansing. The shop I'm referring to is called the Curious Book Shop. Ava was sleeping in the carrier on one of our long walks we would usually take this past summer, so I decided to go in and found these dandies. Aren't they grrrrrreat?


This is the bookstore that I have call me whenever they get in any C.S. Lewis books so I can get as many Chronicles of Narina series in the old, original (and correct if you ask me) order. But, once in a while it's just fun to browse the shelves. I found their crafts section at the back and ran into these beauties. I LOVE the styles in here. Well, I probably won't be crocheting a large, yellow jacket-thingy with baby blue ribbon for myself anytime soon, but some of the baby and toddler knits in here are truly adorable. Check out these cuties...

I really think that this pattern looks doable. I love the bonnet but Ava's growing so quickly, I hope her head won't be too big by the time I actually get this done.

Just look at these vintage babes:

I love the little girl's hat - so adorable. Although, she's all bundled up from the waist up, but look at the bare legs! At our current 25 degrees here, it makes me shiver. Perhaps the weather for this knitter/designer would be more appropriate for her getup.

I'm almost done with hubby's double-sided cable knit scarf. We tried it on tonight and decided that we needed one more ball of yarn to finish it off. Just waiting for the yarn to arrive in the mail. Sooooo, since I had to order another ball, I couldn't let a whole mail order go to waste so I got some of this and this too. I'm gonna try a dishcloth pattern from this book and try out this picot dress for next summer. Okay, I tend to overbook myself but it's fun. Wheeeeeeee!

On the path...