Doll quilts - done!

 

I'm headed out of town for a week. See you then! xoxo

Fun with Vintage fabrics

Makes my heart sing. I used this technique by Elizabeth from Oh, Fransson! to make the blocks. Ingenious! (her cat's name is George-Michael... cute!).

A touch of Pilli Pilli in my day, keeps the blues away

Thrifty Thursdays

Recently I started thrifting... and as in everything with me it has become a sort of obsession (one that I am thoroughly enjoying....maybe a little too much, but who can argue with something that makes a gal happy?). There is something about thrifting that is SOOOO much fun. It can be very exciting to find neat things amongst all of that crap.  I have been mostly looking for vintage linens and notions (zippers, buttons, binding, trim and ribbon) for sewing and crafting. Sometimes I find things that I'm not actually looking for, but can't resist buying because 1. we can actually use it or 2. it's way too awesome to pass up.
 
This week I found the following:

Remember Holly Hobby? My sister and I were really into her. Today I found this vintage hand embroidered wall art. I swear my heart skipped a beat when I saw this (what's wrong with me?). The colors are perfect for Avery's room, plus it's vintage, handmade and, well, it's Holly! This must have taken a LOT of time to make. The stitching is perfect. Now that I've started making things myself I realize just how much work and love goes into these handmade things. When I saw this I nearly tripped over my feet to snag it and put it in my basket (as I did this I looked around furtively to make sure no one else had their eyes on it)..... Can anyone else relate to this thrifting madness? On top of all of this awesomeness it only cost $5.50!

I'm thinking of painting the frame white... what do you think? (it's actually plastic and not wood so I wouldn't feel bad about painting it).

I also found tiny little handmade mittens, a sweet vintage summer dress and an awesome poncho for when Ave gets a little bigger.

I found a few things for Ian too that I will blog about next week. Oh happy day! xoxo

Home Sweet Home

We are back from the hospital. Avery is back to her old smiley self. Resting comfortably in her grandma's arms (she is wrapped in one of my favorite blankets  -my grandma made me this when I was a baby).xoxo

For Japan with Love

http://forjapanwithlove.com/

Déja Vu

I'm writing from the Children's hospital again. Avery was admitted yesterday afternoon. She has a respiratory virus (apparently the no. 1 cause of hospitalizations in children under 1). She is doing much better now than she was yesterday. They are taking good care of her and her breathing has improved. Might be here for a few days. Feeling very grateful to be getting such good care for our sweet baby girl. She's not smiling as much as she normally does. Looking forward to seeing that perky smile again soon. xoxo

Cute Tut

'Doll House' potholder: http://fredashive.blogspot.com/2009/01/doll-house-potholder-tutorial.html

Rounded corners on a quilt

Have just finished machine stitching bindings on three doll quilts (damn those mitered corners!). By chance I happened upon this post just now.... brilliant! Rounded corners... I wouldn't have thought of that... which is what I love about the blogosphere. So much inspiration and so many good ideas!

Now that I've started sewing again, I realized how much I've missed it. I think it actually makes me a better mom. I'm happier and more relaxed when I have sewing projects on the go.

I just ordered a few fabrics from fabricworm. I'm planning a special quilt for Ian for his 4th birthday and a baby quilt for a very good friend who is expecting a boy. The stars of these quilts will be these sweet organic fabrics (with lots of blues, oranges, greens and browns thrown in). 

Sewing aside, my heart has been very heavy these last few days thinking of the people of Japan. I just cannot fathom what they are going through. I had nightmares about it last night.  It seems very surreal.

I pray for the people of Japan and for mother earth.

Doll Quilt Fun

Yesterday's post by Ashley over at Film in the Fridge inspired me to get out my fabric scraps and make up a few doll quilts tops (I had some Heather Ross scraps like the ones in her quilt that have long needed to be freed from my scrap bin). I love making these types of quilts. They appeal to my 'goal oriented' personality (they don't take forever to whip up) and I love that you can be creative while also using up scraps. More importantly I love the idea of a child having a beautiful, handmade blanket for their special softie or doll. My grandmother knitted me a beautiful blanket for my dolls that I still have (will need to take a picture and show you). It has stripes like this (only knit) and these stripe quilts remind me of it.

It's been a long time since I've felt like sewing. Not that I didn't feel like it, but more that I had NO energy. For the last four months Avery has been waking up every 1.5 hours-ish (I wish I was exaggerating). A few weeks ago she finally started sleeping better. She only wakes up 2-3 times a night now... which is such a relief and a blessing (hopefully it sticks). All of a sudden I feel lighter and happier and it feels GOOD! Sleep is SO important to a person's well being.

Sleep tight! xoxo

Makin' me happy.

Making homemade baby food.

Learning a new craft.

Spring birthday flowers from my darling friend.

Jolly jumpin' moves.

Making and playing the 'here fishy fishy' game.

Cousins

We've been watching my sister's kids while she is traveling in Thailand (we have them for one week and their Dad has them for the other two). There's been a whole lot of 'naked super heroes' around here (I think the highlight of the week so far has been when they all came downstairs naked save for pull-ups on their heads). I hope they will remember this time with us when they are older. Hope you're having fun Annie. We are taking good care of the kids. xoxo

Ingenious tutorial for a superhero cape

If you are a mom of boys I hope you are following Made's 'Celebrate the Boy' month. As a mom of a boy I'm always looking for fun projects to make for him.There is a real lack of projects that appeals to boys out there.

Ian is very much into superheros these days. Sometime ago we watched Toy Story 2. Since then he's been 'Buzz obsessed'. In fact every day for months now shortly after breakfast he strips down to his underwear and assumes his 'Buzz-superhero' persona. In his mind his underwear are his special superhero costume (ever notice how most superheros have belts?). That's mostly why you see so few pictures of him on this blog lately... he's always mostly naked (and I know better than to post almost naked pictures of my boy online). In fact I think this particular year home with my children will be forever burned into my psyche as 'the underwear year'... or the 'superhero phase' (it's awfully sweet actually... and certainly cuts down on the laundry!). There is nothing cuter than 3 year old still chubby legs running around being super.

When I saw this tutorial I knew I had to make one of these for Ian. It is ingenious really. It took me all of 15 minutes to make this cape and he loves it. I used adhesive velcro so no glue gun or sewing needed. Seriously soooooo easy. I ended up using one of my own t-shirts and it was the perfect length. I want to make one of these for all of the kids I know... because I'm obsessive that way and I can never have or make 'just one'... and when you think of it... girls are into superheros too...SO fun!

 

He is so sweet that boy of mine. Even his elbows still have that 'baby chub'... it will be a sad day when all of that baby chub is gone forever. xoxo

Love me some pilli pilli

There are a lot of awesome giveaways in the blogosphere. Recently I entered a contest to win two beautiful handmade doilies from abitofpillipilli. Her blog is full of inspiration (the photography is amazing) and I love that she's in Italy! I just found out I won! I'm so excited. I LOVE the red ones, they are so pretty.

Recently I bought this beautiful artwork for Avery's room from her etsy shop (there are some really cute ones on there now).  I put it up on her wall the other day and when I'm nursing Avery I look at it and it makes me so happy. It's just SO sweet and I love the colors.

Thanks for the giveaway! Can't wait to get my red doilies! xoxo