Hats, Mittens, and Shoes!

A friend of mine recently commissioned me
to make baby gifts
for her two brand new nephews.

We went to this fun store downtown
and picked out some great yarns
and then I set to work making
hats and mittens and shoes.

Here's the first set ... 

LOVE the green and gray!

I put little crocheted buttons on the sides of the shoes.

And the little mittens.

These were my favorite to make.

And I actually learned a new knitting technique in the process!

The Magic Loop

(sounds weird, but it really is a cool technique!!)

Here is the other set.

We didn't know if this was going to be for a girl or boy,

so we made it gender neutral

and planned to add flowers if it turned out to be a girl.

These shoes remind me of Oreos.

Yum.

Judah-man's Gift ... and my 200th Post!

My sweet friend Heather
had her 5th child this year.
That's right ...
5 children
She's younger than me.
I feel like the slow kid in school.

But anyway ... after having 3 girls in a row,
she had a little boy this time.
(Her oldest ... a boy ... was SOOOO excited!!)
The baby's name is Judah.
Their family affectionately refers to him as
"Judah-man"
i love it.

So, I made him a little gifty
to welcome him into the world.

Of course, it had to be just the right shade of aqua.

If you don't know Heather,

you should know that sh

LOVES all things Hawaiian.

And blue.

Her whole family wears flip-flops year round.

That's what I love about them.

Well ... that and a lot of other things.

:o)

I love this blanket pattern.

Super easy to make

(which means I can actually get it done before the baby outgrows it!)

and not too girly and frilly.

Perfect for little baby boys.

Here's a close-up.

Don't look too closely, though ...

My knitting isn't perfect, but it'll work.

A Fall Cookout

In October,
I had a cookout
as a way of saying THANK YOU
to everyone who had helped and encouraged me
during my recovery since my car accident.

I was (and still am!) fighting my way through my shoulder rehab,
but I didn't want to wait any longer to thank everyone.
And besides ... the weather was PERFECT in October,
and I wasn't going to get another good weather window until the Spring.

So, I invited everyone over to my dad's house,
and we had a fall cookout.
It was so much fun to have mostly all of my closest local friends
together under one roof!

My crazy niece.

LOVE her.

BOTH of my beautiful nieces.

How lucky am I?

My friend Deb, me, and my dad's wife Julie.

Deb & Julie were a HUGE help with the food and setup!!!

My dad, the grill master.

He loved it, because everyone at the party had to come see him

if they wanted to eat.

Which meant that he got to meet all of my friends.

Cornhole.

This game is so much fun.

Speaking of cornhole ...

... Have you heard the Rhett & Link Cornhole Song?

Hilarious.

There was fishing in the lake.

We didn't have any lures,

but no problem-o,

because one of the little boys who was there

made a lure out of a feather

(yes ... a feather)

and caught a bass.

Not kidding.

What would a cookout be without s'mores

by the fire?

Oh ... and glowsticks for the kiddos.

Wish I had a picture of all the kids

running around in the dark

with glowsticks on their heads.

Really good friends.

God has been so very gracious to me in this life.

I don't know what I would do if it weren't for these fabulous ladies.

(See Judah-man in his new aqua blanket??)

Artisan Show

In November,
my friend Heather and I
(you know ... my friend with 5 kiddos)
shared a booth at a local artisan show.

We had tons of fun chatting and catching up.

We don't often have the opportunity to see each other regularly,

so we were both excited for the opportunity to spend time together!

This is our cutie booth.

You can't see it, but we're overlooking the ocean.

Seriously.

Neither of us realized how well our products went together

until we got them all up on the table.

I love all of Heather's fabrics,

my baby shoes went perfectly with a lot of her things!

Cute overload.

Oh ... and as an added bonus ...

Everything that didn't sell at this show

went over to this super-fun boutique here in Charleston.

So if you're local and looking for a gift ... go there.

They have so much fun stuff, and a lot of local vendors!!

Black & Cream

I'm currently working on a special black & cream quilt.

Lots of hours have gone into this quilt,

and there are still lots more hours to go!

I've spent months sewing all these arcs together.

Seriously.

Months.

Last week, I finished the arcs

and moved on to these elliptical shapes.

In the process of cutting all of these ellipses,

I discovered my new favorite sewing tool ...

... this tiny rotary cutter!

Perfect for cutting around plastic templates!

SO much easier than tracing with a fabric pencil

and then cutting with regular scissors.

Where have you been all my life??!!??

I'm at the point now where I'm sewing the arcs to the ellipses.

Curved seams ... Yikes!

It's a little scary, but I love the way it's coming out!

Can't wait to see it come together!!!

I'll be sure to post more as I make progress. 

Fun with my Nieces

Recently

I had my nieces over

for some afternoons of fun!

We played the piano.

Since my surgery I haven't been playing much

so it was nice to hear the music in my house again!

We made a cake for their mom's birthday

and they had fun decorating it.

We made Mothers Day gifts.

It was fun having them help in the studio

to make these fun fabric pins.

Mary Rose coloring Mothers Day bags.

And Anneliese ...

I have so much enjoyed spending time with these girls lately.

They are growing up so fast!!!!

The Stuffie Hospital ...

The other day

my cutie niece

asked me to take home her Ladybug Pillow Pet

(otherwise known as "Ladybuggy")

so that I could fix the hole

that had appeared in its rear end.

Nevermind, 

of course,

that both her mother and her grandmother

sew very well ...

... and live with her.

No matter ...

I enjoy doing things for my nieces and nephew,

so I gladly said

of course.

A few days later,

I returned

with a new and improved Ladybuggy

without the hole in its bum.

Mary Rose was so excited

to be reunited with her stuffie,

and I enjoyed seeing her smile big

and hug Ladybuggy tight 

without the fear of squeezing out any of its stuffing.

Her mother

immediately asked her

"What do you say to Auntie?"

expecting her, of course, to say "Thank you, Auntie!"

Without even skipping a beat,

Mary Rose looked at me 

and said 

"I'm going to go get more stuffies 

for you to fix!"

and she bolted upstairs to find them.

She came back

with her arms full.

Gotta love her.

So, for a brief time,

my house became

a stuffie hospital.

There was the bear that lost its hat.

And the ballerina bear

that apparently danced so much

that both her feet almost fell right off!

In addition to having a little bit of a

wardrobe malfunction.

And finally there was the dog

who almost lost his head.

Poor guy.

I'm happy to report 

that these stuffies have been

nursed back to health

and are back in the arms of the little girl

who loves them.

And I suspect

that the vacancies in my stuffie hospital

won't last long.

:o)