Give, Oh Give

I have been a lucky girl (again) lately. I must say that I love the giveaways in the blogging world - it's fun to have giveaways and receive from giveaways. Just last week I received my latest giveaway prize - a patchwork scarf from Katie. She made it just for me - I love the oranges and reds and it looks smashing with my gray peacoat. I've only been wearing it for a couple of days and already received many compliments on it. And she still has one left in her shop in brown and green - lovely! Thanks Katie!

And the winner of my little giveaway? Congratulations go to Darcy! I'm sure Elle will love all the little hair adornments!

Growing Up

Again, I didn't me to be gone for so long, but we had some trouble with internet access while out of town visiting family - it was out at my father-in-law's house. I had planned to keep things going at the shop while we were gone so it was a little bit of a necessary hassle to get internet access. I went to my grandparent's house a few more times than I would have normally and then we found that if we drove around the corner, there was an open wireless connection. So, I would camp out in the car doing only the essentials - answering convos, following up an order, etc. Luckily, it was in a cul de sac without any nosy passersby - I sure felt silly in the car with my computer parked in front of someone's house.

So, without further adieu, here is the long awaited first haircut of Baby N. After a week or two of having people call Baby N a girl, I decided it was time and I was ready for it. It took me a little while to find someone to do it, but when my friend Mandy found out I was looking for someone, she happily volunteered. So, here's the before (well, just the back, he was getting nervous about sitting in the chair, so we didn't take the time for anything other than a pic of the lovely back curls) and the after - looking like a big boy, but still not giving up the binky. Thank you Mandy for doing such a great job!

He's definitely growing up and I've decided to stop calling him Baby N on the blog. I gave the boys nicknames when I first started the blog because I didn't know how I felt about using their real names and I figured the most cautious route was the best one. So, I talked it over with Ryan and we decided it would be OK for me to use our boy's first names on the blog. So who are they? Baby N is Ned and Little P is Peter.

And since we're talking about growing up and it is the time of year that we take notice of all we are thankful for, I'm thankful that Peter is finally (after three months of solid potty training) using the toilet for all of his business! Hooray! Please do not ask me for advice on potty training - apparently I had no idea what I was doing!

One more thing and I promise I'm finished - this is my 100th post. And may I say that I love what I've started here - thank you so much for coming here to read, leave comments, and share in the fun! In honor of 100 posts, I do have a little giveaway up my sleeve. In honor of Ned's first haircut, I'll be giving away an assortment hair accessories - bobby pins and ponytail holders with fabric covered buttons. Just leave a comment before Wednesday.

MIA

Wow - where did the last week go? Oh, that's right - busy, busy, busy. We had Little P's pre-school Parent Night, we gave Baby N his first haircut (does this mean I have to think of another, more suitable online name for him? I'll share the new do soon - he hasn't been too cooperative about getting his picture taken.), I had a fun girls night out with some gals in my neighborhood, I got my hair done, and I have been crazy busy with sewing! And we're going out of town tomorrow for Thanksgiving. That means laundry and packing today and tomorrow. And I've got to keep sewing - I'm working on a few bags that I'm going to place on consignment in a boutique in the city where I grew up. Here's a few pics of things I've been working on lately:Aprons, purses, ponytail holders with fabric covered buttons, all which can be found in the shop now. I wasn't going to put the ponytail holders in the shop because there are already so many of them on Etsy, but I had already bought a boatload of buttons for the craft show that I didn't do, so I decided I would put some in anyway. It will probably be a temporary item - like just until I run out of buttons, which may take a while;). Oh, and I'm running a free shipping/$5 international shipping promotion in the the shop until Wednesday on all purchases over $30.

I hope to get back here tomorrow with pics of Baby N's hair, but if I don't....Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Thursday's Dinner

I want to rewind to last Thursday so I can share our yummy family dinner with you. Last week I was trying to use things I already had in the house and not go shopping - a little cleaning out. I was surprised by some of the things I managed to pull off, but Thursday's nights dinner definitely topped them all. We had Kelly's Chicken Noodle Soup with her grandma's egg noodles and butternut squash pizza. It was a fabulous combination - yummy!

This was my first time making egg noodles - I must admit they turned out a bit chewy. I'm assuming I didn't let them dry long enough (I didn't realize I should have made them ahead of time and we were all getting grumbly tummies so they only got dried for 10 minutes)- can anyone shed some light on this? I have absolutely no talent when it comes to making anything from any sort of dough that involves mainly flour and water, yet I keep trying.
Add yeast and we complicate things a thousand-fold. It is just not something I have a knack for, but I keep banging my head against the wall with it because I love eating anything made from a dough that is mainly flour and water.

The butternut squash pizza is one of the few recipes that I have made more than just a couple of times. I like to try new recipes and this sometimes means that ones we have tried that we like don't get made again simply because we are trying new recipes. So, if we've eaten a particular recipe time after time, it's really good in our book! This pizza is fairly easy to put together too. Just chop up an onion and a small butternut squash, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and roast at 425 until tender (usually about 15 minutes). Get your pizza dough rolled into your favorite shape (you could use ready made or homemade) while the squash and onions are cooking. Drizzle the dough with a little olive oil and sprinkle with parmesan or asiago cheese. Then add the onions and squash and sprinkle on a little more cheese. Put it back in the 425 oven to bake for another 10-15 minutes (until crust is golden and crispy - this really is best on a thin crispy crust). Then enjoy!

Dots Revealed

Well, I was surprised that so many of you were so intrigued by my dots. I had thought about posting the recipes from our fabulous dinner last night, but I decided to end the suspense and let you in on my little project. I had a couple of close guesses with a tree skirt. You were all on the right track with a Christmas item, but you aimed too big because I tricked you by piling them up. So go a little smaller and you get stockings - fun, retro, yet modern Christmas stockings with two of my favorite trims - ric rac and pom pom trim. They were so much fun to put together and watching all the pieces come together. I first talked about here - remember the trip for the white cotton velveteen? I shopped here for the fabric on the cuffs. I bought the wool felt when our local Hancocks went out of business. The ric rac is mostly from my stash and the pom pom trim was from the town fabric shop. I haven't talked about it much, but this project has been in the works for a while and it just took it a while to get to the final product. And now that it's here, I'm so pleased with them. They're for the shop and I'm hoping to have them all listed in the next few days.

And I have to thank my friend Phoebe, for sparking all of this Christmas creativity. She sent me an e-mail a month or so ago asking for Christmas stockings that were fun, but a little different, but not so different that they couldn't be a timeless heirloom. So, here is the set I made for her three little ones. If you're into something more like this, I'll be making a special custom listing for the shop.


And I have to thank Sandi for the photos! And her daughter Eliza for being our model up there in that first shot - thanks so much!

Seeing Dots...

Curious? Stay Tuned.....

A Space of My Own

As part of my desire to prioritize my life, we did a little furniture rearranging this weekend. We moved Baby N's crib in to Little P's room, so they are now sharing. We had tried to have them share when we first moved in here a year ago, but it just wasn't working out. The last two nights it went fairly well with just a few times putting Little P back in bed.
So, what did we do with Baby N's room? Well, it's my new workspace/studio/sewing room (not sure what I will call it yet)! As you can see in the pics, still terribly unorganized , but mine nonetheless. Hooray! I think I had mentioned that previously my workspace had been in the kitchen. This worked out well in some ways - it was easy to work because I was often in the kitchen. But, on the other hand, I found myself feeling like I was paying way too much attention to it. Other negatives? The kids, their curiosity, and my sewing supplies were not such a great combo. And it was impossible to keep the kitchen clean - my stuff was always out or always being moved around so we could use different surfaces in the kitchen that were being occupied by my things. It is going to be so nice to be able to leave my things out and just shut the door on it, where little hands can't get to it. Already I notice I am feeling more balanced. I am hoping that my sewing time will be more productive because I am not burned out by having it always around me. And we are planning to put some play things in the extra space in the kitchen - things that I will love as much as the kids so I will want to play with them more. There's also going to be a small table just for them and the cupboard that used to hold my sewing supplies (well, it still does - the new room is not even close to being organized yet) will hold art and creativity supplies for the boys. I can't wait!


p.s. for more pictures of the quilt I made for Sandi, check here (and be amazed by the gorgeous fabric once again;)!)

Halloween

I couldn't decide on which picture or two to post, so I ended up with six. All in all I think they turned out well. People knew who they were and they had a lot of fun, especially Little P who got really into it by casting spells on us all. Baby N didn't collect much candy - losing the binky might have helped him project a more grown-up, ready for candy appearance, but it wasn't worth the sacrifice for him. Little P faired better in the candy department, but was more interested in eating it than collecting more. In his defense, it was quite cold and I think he just wanted to warm up while enjoying some sweet things.

The component of the costumes are from various sources.

1) The scarves -My best friend, Cayenne, knitter and spinner extraordinaire, knitted the Gryffindor scarves. They are so great! Thanks Cayenne!

2) The pets - The crochet rat pattern (really it is a mouse, but I figured Baby N is a small kid, he needed a small rat) came from here. The owl pattern came from here. If I get really ambitious, I'll make those Harry, Ron, and Hermione softies. This was my first try at crocheting amigurimi. I liked it just fine until I got to the tiny parts - like the owl's feet! Yuck! So, I fashioned some feet out of heavy interfacing and fabric. I really like how they turned out.

3) The wands - Wand instructions came from here. E-mail me for tips if you decide to make these. They were slightly tricky.

4) The glasses - store bought crazy eyes glasses (you know the ones with the lenses that make your eyes look crazy?) with the lenses popped out.

All in all, it was so much fun to see these come together and even more fun to see how much the boys enjoyed them. Little P is just now getting into dressing up and such, so I think this will be the start of our dress-up box. I can't wait to see pics of all of your Halloween adventures. Happy November to all!