Pictures!!

And a happy Labor Day to you!
















There are always more pictures on my Flickr

Embroidery

So, I've finished a few tops, and am feverishly working on finishing a gift for an adult friend (shock!).

I've got one other shirt done, but no pics uploaded yet. One inked-up shirt for my darling Si-Pi (he loves me so much, and the feeling is mutual), and two (two!!) other gifts for adult friends all ready to go (that is, all ready to be embroidered).

There actually has been a slight lull in baby-births...although I am not caught up...I've been considering being a bit more selective with who I do this for. Simply put, some people really value it, and it seems--to my great surprise--some don't. I don't want to labor and spend a ton of time lovingly creating something when it won't be appreciated. So...that might help free up my embroidery-time a bit. I can easily hand-make simpler gifts in those cases.

Additionally, I have some gingham lying around and I really, really, really want to try chicken scratch. I'm sure I have lots of time to do that! :)

I'm really looking forward to starting some embroidery lessons with a friend (or two) of mine this Fall. It will be so much fun to teach these gals this very simple, easy home-craft, not to mention to have regularly scheduled visits to chat and catch up. All the while creating beautiful things for our homes or for others. Yay!

Without further ado, here are the latest baby shirts!

Front:


Back:


I really enjoyed this one--I don't often work on colored shirts, and I've never done (probably because I usually work on white) a mono-chromatic (one color, different shades) one like this. I really like the effect.

The baby this was for is so feminine and lovely. And I think the color would also look darling on her, but I haven't seen it on. She's dainty enough, too, that I didn't have to worry about the shirt size. It was a 6-9 month, but it didn't seem as big as the white 6-9 month shirts I usually work on.

Next one...
Front:


Back:


Isn't Aria an awesome name?!

I was really excited to work on gray, but now I think I ought to have chosen a design with less colors...maybe just pink and white or black...I do love this design and the colors...but they don't *pop* quite like I want them to.

Hopefully this shirt still fit when the gift was delivered. :)

My Husband's (and Brother-in-Law's) Web comic

My Husband is "officially" launching the collaborative website he and his brother are crafting.

Legendary Boys of Floyd is a comic and blog, with artwork by my brother-in-law, Tim, and website design, as well as concept, stories, and blogging by my husband, Tom.

It's been a fun thing for him to work on and own. It gives him a purpose and a distraction for his non-working, painful days.

Today he's at PAX, wearing an official shirt and passing out free stickers to whomever will take them. Hopefully he doesn't get kicked out!

Living in the Pacific Northwest, there is almost literally a coffee stand on every corner, so coffee, coffee shops, home-grown v. Corporate (AKA Starbucks) coffee, silliness, pictures and stories are all things you'll find there.

A few of my favorite comics and posts are listed below, but they're almost all good. So, go check it out!

The Claim
The Bust
The Change

Jooky Junk!
coffee antics

Milestones

Isreal is one. It's gone by way too fast...



He's really great at walking now, and he loves to climb...scares me nearly to death! He wants to go and do so much, but luckily, he still loves to snuggle and takes great joy in people.

He's a great hugger--he'll hug you on command: "hugs!" He will also make kissing sounds when I say "kiss" and sometimes he'll even give kisses.

He is very in to music. every time he hears even a musical...sound, he'll start rocking and bobbing. And during his little adventures around the house I've heard him humming--simply adorable!

He can sign "all done", claps enthusiastically, and I think he tried to sign to nurse the other day--he seemed pretty pleased with himself. I'm not great about teaching him signs...but he is getting it, so I should work on it.

He doesn't talk a lot. He makes a ton of noises, and communicates...but he doesn't have words like Eve did. By the time she was 1, eve had a huge vocabulary. He has maybe half a dozen words. "Wow" is a recent favorite. He also like "sit" and "dog."

Why does he have to grow so fast? Lately, whenever casual references have come up, Tom's been quick to point out that we may be done--it breaks my heart to think of no more babies! ugh.

As is customary, he got two Birthday parties, and his very own mini cake, each day. The cake was on my allergy elimination diet, even the frosting! I made a big cake with white frosting for the non-birthday folks, and a little one with green frosting (colored with pureed spinach!) for the Birthday boy.





I'd love to share the frosting receipe, but I was really winging it all along. I used coconut butter, Hemp milk, and coconut oil, along with sugar and vanilla. I will say, making your own powdered sugar is time consuming. Next time I'm just going to order corn-free powdered sugar. Eve says she wants a pink chocolate cake. I'm thinking Beets will be the coloring of choice!

The new normal

Hey there blog-land.

been away living life.

Thought I'd update you all on things:

Tom's "condition" is, basically, permanent. There is nothing more that can be done, surgically. Hopefully, now L&I will approve some alternative treatments like Chiropractic. He has early stages of arthritis in his lower back which is probably why he has hip pain.

The doctor said in time (years?) Tom might be able to do some of the activities he used to enjoy.

I can't even express how sad I am for Tom about this. And of course, it's not what I wanted to hear about the situation either. He is constantly in pain, and has somewhat regular bouts of intense sharp pain that last for days. And that is the new normal.

We've been living with it for nearly a year and a half now, so I know we can deal with it. But, we've also had a bit of hope that eventually things would get figured out and he'd be fixed. Now? Not a lot of room for hope. :(

Israel is walking! And he has a few "words" like more and kitty. He's definitely not the little communicator Eve was, but he's such an explorer and so independent. He's still just the sweetest little guy ever. He is a joy and a blessing. I'm so glad he's part of our family.

Eve is coming out of the pit of being three and a half, and is blossoming into the most pleasant almost-four year old. I'm really glad too, I like...liking her! :)

I'm on a crazy diet--again--trying to figure out food allergies. So far, it's still a mystery and I miss cheese, Pizza, cheese, beer and...cheese. If I end up being allergic to dairy...how will I go on?

I have to make all my own everything. This week I made a yummy and rather time consuming batch of Quinoa apple banana muffins. If I end up having to make this kind of eating a lifestyle, I will have to borrow or buy a food processor--hand grating an apple is just...too much. So...I'm giving it more time. I've lost all my Peanut baby weight though...so the diet has it's benefits. I've got plans to keep going until the 16th of August, taking a day off to gorge on cheese, and then starting an even more strict 28 day elimination/detox diet. That is, if I don't see improvement in my various ailments between now and the 16th. If I do...I may have already had my last hurrah with cheese. :(

I am almost done with another onesie, so I'll have two to show you. Unfortunately, I spend all my time either cooking or cleaning up after cooking, so I've very little time for onesies, and even less for downloading and uploading pictures. :)

I still have one all "inked up" and ready to get started on, and then I have half a dozen more to design, ink, and stitch...it's harder because my hands hurt so much...I may have to retire if I can't get this thing solved.

smiles, embroidery, and happenings

Here's the latest baby top. Unfortunately, the baby moved away, and I don't have a mailing address yet, and am not getting emails back from baby's mama...so this may simply be practice. Not sure I love the faces... did them myself as an addition to a sublime stitching pattern, and then was commited because I drew it on the shirt with ball point pen--which never seems to come out when I accidentally draw on my own clothes! So...anyway.



and the rear





I do so love cherries. I want to put that little french knot pair on just about everything I own. So cheery.

Eve decided to make us all super heros the other day. She has a great eye for matching colors. I was wearing pink and got a red cape, since there was no pink tissue paper. But no one was around to photograph me.





And finally, we had a mama otter and two of her children visit our dock the other day. They stayed for more than 20 minutes. She ate an entire, rather large Trout (or possibly Bass, I really couldn't tell) from tail to head, every bit of her, and didn't share with the babies. It was fun to watch them play, and search for scraps around their mom. Then one went potty on our dock, and that really got Eve giggling. Tom wasn't so happy. :) The photos are less than spectacular because the otters are skittish, so we have to be stealthy and definitely stay inside, so these are through windows and railings and taken at quite a distance. But, for documentations sake, here you are:

craftiness

Hello out there.

I've missed blogging, but sometimes, living life is more important and more fun. But now I have something fun to share, so here we go.

I've had a recent spurt! I finished a onesie I'd been dragging my feet on because I'm pretty sure the baby it's for is wearing the size the onesie is. I'm so bad. *And* sharing my fabric stash and tote-making instructions with a couple friends inspired me to sew again, so I finished the back pack! I also hemmed a pair of my own pants into those trendy long shorts which are really quite flattering. I did the same with a pair of pants for Tom to make shorts for him too. But this makes like pair number 4 for that, so nothing really exciting there.

On to pictures!

Soren's elephant



with a little bird...



and another on the behind, with a peanut. On later reflection, I should have decreased the size of the peanut or increased the size of the bird, as it is, it looks suspiciously like something else one might find near an elephant, especially since it's on the rear. Oh well.



Andrew was a fisherman...





satin stitch on a t-shirt is hard and not fun



I put three little bubbles on the butt, but I was tired of satin stitch, and they were too big for just knots, so I just outlined in backstitch. Not my best-ever behind design. If you are really desperate to see it, visit my flickr photoset, you'll find it somewhere in there.

The exciting thing about both these onesies is that I designed them myself. I actually sketched an elephant (20 some times) and doodled the underwater scene. What did I spend the most time on? figuring out how to draw birds! I'm pretty darn proud of myself. This isn't the first time I've done my own design work, but I look at the elephant and just swell with pride that I could draw that. Yay!

On to more self-designed stuff.

Here's a backpack I made for Eve. My friend Kim made a backpack out of some great Amy Butler fabric (I think) for another friend's oldest girl back in November. I was totally inspired and began to make a Christmas present for Eve. I knocked out all but the straps and hanging loop right away, and then became intimidated by the attachment of the straps and left it literally under the needle of my machine until a few weeks ago when Tom decided he needed new shorts. I've told you all that, though. So, anyway, here it is.



Note the flat bottom. Making flat-bottomed bags makes me really happy. I think it's the geometry involved.

I asked Kim for a basic rundown on what she did. If I were to do it again, I would make it bigger and put a pocket on the outside front (and ribbon details, which I meant to do, but forgot until everything was all sewn together, oh well!) which are both things Kim did, and I just was too lazy to pay careful attention to such details. I also think the flap should be longer, but I cut the flap before I made the bag have a flat bottom, so that's my excuse for how short it is.



I love the fabric. I found it all in a quilting fat quarter stack at joann's. It's not going to hold up to a ton of abuse, but Eve's already getting too big for the thing, so I think it will be just fine. Is it some kind of strange Christmas motif? It was the right timing for it, and it's got angels...but not the usual angels, and certainly not Christmas colors. It's really vibrant and summery looking, really.

another thing that Kim told me to do, but which sailed right in one ear and out the other, was to sew the top of the straps into the flap seam, along with the hanger hook, but, you know, Kim sews way more than I do and is clever that way. I'm just pleased the straps are on. But if I make another back pack, I'm totally doing that.

One thing Kim didn't do, but which I did, was put elastic on the straps. I wanted it to be "adjustable" in the sense that the straps could fit Eve for longer than a month, but I didn't want to do the usual strap adjusters (because I am afraid of those!) The bonus of this method is that it allows Eve to easily put the back pack on by herself, but it still fits snugly against her back so she doesn't have her backpack dragging down by her bottom. I can only imagine the back strain the other method would have caused, since I'm not certain a book would fit, and she's always lugging around really heavy beanie babies and whatnot.



fully lined, featuring pockets and a velcro closure for the flap (because every other kind of closure scares me--I need to branch out)



Eve is quite pleased (there's those straps in action!!), and Israel can't believe how talented his beloved mom is. He loves me even more now, and expects to have a robot-angel backpack of his own when he's three. This is not the sort of thing that makes a suitable hand-me-down.

No pictures of the shorts (they're not that flattering.

We have a winner! or, The contest that almost killed me

Stephanie! Congratulations. Your plan to make a Mei Tai won out, by appealing to my deep love for babywearing.

Send me an email (jenne_girle at yahoo dot com), with your mailing address and we'll finally get this prize out the door!

Ugh, I'm sorry it took me so long, but I really just couldn't decide. I kept waffling between one choice and another, and then wondering if I could possibly scrape together enough good stuff to give something to everyone, and even getting so tired of it all, considering never blogging again and just hiding forever. ;)

So, from now on, my contests are going to be entirely random--I just can't take the pressure!

Thank you all for entering!! It was fun.

More fabric

For a chance to get some free vintage fabric yardage, comment on my Contest!! post.

Here's some other fabric I snagged for a steal.



It's rayon and feels soooo nice. Lots of it too. I can't decide what to do with it, but considering my sewing machine is still parked on the straps to Eve's backpack that was mostly completed before Christmas, I'm not sure I need to rush to figure it out.

Contest!!

Looks like fabric yardage wins the day, so here's the contest.

Tell me what you would do with this fabric:



I think it's linen, and is somewhat heavy weight.

Comment on this post by Midnight Pacific time next Saturday, one week from today. I'll choose my favorite and announce the winner the following Monday.

The winner will get a yard of this fabric, and possibly a few other goodies from my stash of buttons, fat quarters, and trim.

On your marks, get set, go!

I have the best Husband

I have no pictures of the event, but Tom officiated a wedding yesterday. It's the first, and I guess probably only, though who knows? This younger friend and coworker of Tom's asked him, and how can one refuse such a request.

It is also the first wedding Eve has been to since she's been old enough to notice. She loved it, and was talking about her Easter dress being her wedding dress today. Tom did a beautiful job, I was so proud. Eve was quiet and respectful, and I'm proud of her too. Peanut was good while all the guests were seated, but not once the ceremony began I think he didn't like hearing daddy and not being able to see him. Once we stood in the back and he could see Tom, he settled down.

Later, Tom told me he was choked up and having a hard time remaining stoic, as he thought back to our own wedding, and the bride and groom before him got misty-eyed. It warmed my heart considerably, because, of course, I think back to our wedding every time we go to a wedding.

Tom's part in it and the ceremony itself was lovely and short. The cake was a different story. The topper was a bride grabbing the back collar of the quickly departing groom. The face of the miniature bride was determined and angry, and the face of the little groom was frightened and surprised. It made me sad, though I know it was only for fun, to see such a representation of the feelings of the bride and groom themselves. I've never been a fan of those kind of cake toppers anyway, but this was, I think, the worst I've seen. Then, to make matters worse, the groom betrayed the trust of his new wife by smashing a huge piece of cake in her face. She in turn tried her best to retaliate with a smaller piece. Ugh, it was so badly done. Why do people do that?

Tom didn't do that to me on our wedding day, and it made me love him all the more last night as I witnessed that spectacle. When I mentioned this all to Tom, though I think he was pleased to have inspired me to praise him for it, he didn't seem to think it was any great thing.

To turn everything on its head, I think the cake was the best tasting wedding cake I've ever had. It was really delicious.

So, I ask you, am I over-reacting to the cake topper? What do you think of this modern "tradition" of smearing cake in your beloved's face? I feel like it doesn't bode well for the marriage, but maybe I'm mistaken.

Happy Easter!

Today we celebrate Christ's resurrection. Part of that celebration includes dying eggs. I know, it's more of a pagan aspect of celebrating spring and new life, but the egg is a part of the Jewish celebration of passover and a classic symbol of the three-in-one God as well, not to mention that it is Easter that gives us new life, so why not celebrate with some fun? Plus, devilled eggs and egg salad are so yummy.



This was our first year coloring eggs, and Eve did a great job. I only got a picture of one, because Eve is *that* in to eating them. I'll be honest, they didn't turn out the way I like, and I think next year we'll try some natural dying techniques and brown eggs. This year was just too hectic.

We are off to a family dinner. I hope that today, as many celebrate the essential and defining aspect of Christianity, Christ's resurrection from the death that reconciled us to God, that you, if you celebrate or not, will have a day of Grace and blessing.

New Poll

If you simply subscribe to this feed, go on over to the blog page and take the Poll. If you're already here...uh, take the Poll!

Pictures!

Okay, I finally downloaded some Pics from the camera!

I had great lighting in the house the other day, and Eve was at Grandma's, so it was the perfect time for a photo shoot with Israel. What is it about this age that is so great for pictures? But, he wouldn't cooperate. He kept crawling around, he wouldn't stay put, and he kept moving into the shadows of the room, so only a few shots turned out. But they are awfully cute.





A week and a half ago, Eve got her first haircut. We still couldn't bring ourselves to cut bangs though, so it's not very obvious. She was great for the whole thing, and her lovely aunt Angela did the honors.



A few weeks ago, we had our first sunny, warmish day. It wasn't even spring yet (still isn't, and the weather here is back to normal, cool and wet and cloudy) but it felt like Spring, so I raced outside with the kids, let Eve play in the muddy sand, and let Peanut meet the grass for the first time.

I tried to get a good picture of them together, but Eve just couldn't stay still, and when she did, she couldn't stop with the silly faces. So, you'll have to see them separately.









Peanut had his first banana when he finally got over the flu. Or at least, when he was nearly over it. This is the aftermath.



It sure made him happy, though none actually made it into his mouth.

Here he is doing his calisthenics. This was a week or two before he figured crawling out.



I was feeling guilty clicking away at Peanut exercising while Eve was out of the way, so I ran downstairs and snapped this before she figured out what I was up to. What is it about preschoolers that makes them incapable of just smiling normal for the camera? But this one shot is natural and adorable.



Here's a couple just because of the adorable Peanut.



Aww...he was sick and teething... so his face was leaking from every spot.



Check out Eve's mad drawing skills, and her obvious left handedness.



I was kinda bummed she did this on her hand, but then when I realized I could just take a picture, I think I like the idea better than saving paper pictures anyway...because we have hundreds of those.

Yesterday we went to Goodwill to try to find a pair of slacks for Tom to wear to a wedding this weekend (the one he's officiating, I can't wait to share how that goes!), which was a total failure, but I found some beautiful fabric totally cheap, and lots of it. I'm looking forward to sharing that too. In fact, I want to *actually* share it and give some away...even though it will be painful to let even a little of it go. Stay tuned.