My reward

Josh has been out of town this week - which leaves me 43563 weeks pregnant with two manic toddlers to parent. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal but let me tell you, I am enormous. Bending over is impossible and any sudden movement causes serious contractions.

All this is turning out to be a good thing, though. He offered to shop for me at Anthropologie. I will endure all kinds of horrors for a bag of goodies from my favorite store. I emailed him a few links and VOILA! Thursday I will have a very special delivery - my husband, some new dishtowels, plates, & glasses. What more could a girl want?

Spring is on my mind

Can you tell?! Everything I've made lately has been bright and juicy and downright cheerful. I've wanted to make a couple of patchwork pillows for several months and finally found the time last week. I am so pleased with how they turned out regardless of the fact that they really don't match my living room.

I embroidered some abstract flowers in the middle that are reminiscent of the pattern in the Amy Butler fabric that I used - Clay Geisha Fans, I believe. Love that fabric. Must buy some more and make a skirt this summer.

I added ties on the back out of scraps. Thrifty, huh? As you can see, though, I have most definitely not mastered the art of pillow-making. My envelope closure on the back didn't work out exactly as I had planned but now I know how to make it work the next time. It's really amazing how little fabric these require. I have some ideas up my sleeve to spruce up our bedroom once the winter linens are put away.

It might not feel like summer...

...but it certainly tastes like it.

Oh, how it flies...

Has it really been 3 years since my surprise redhead was born? You don't realize how the time really does fly until it's your own child, I suppose.

She asked for a "birdy shirt" for her birthday. I thought I'd just quickly sketch out and applique a little bird, but oh, no. My little girl, she's got an opinion now! I loved that she was interested and involved in the creation of this outfit - "now, Mommy, this leaf goes here, and the birdy needs to be on a branch." A girl after my own heart, I tell you! I so enjoyed this project and am so excited that she gets it, you know?!

I also gave a go at the Twirly Skirt tutorial to match her new shirt and it definitely won't be the last one I make. It's such a well-written tutorial and the skirt is absolutely perfect. Just perfect. I used some 1 1/2 inch fabric scraps with a zig zag stitch as hair ribbons. Hardly any effort at all!

Pardon the blown-out photo. She moves too fast to change the manual settings on my camera, the little rat, but this is the only one I got that comes close to showing the little bird.

Delaney is so into drawing and gluing and cutting things up that I thought she'd enjoy a special suitcase for all of her art supplies. I replenished her stock of construction paper, glue, crayons and coloring books and stuck everything in a suitcase I found this summer for 50 cents. Sandi inspired me to Mod Podge fabric on the front to dress it up. I have to say, it was a hit with all the kids at the birthday party and she hasn't gone more than 3 hours without opening it up just like her very own treasure chest.

The little pockets in the suitcase lid are perfect for storing those pesky foam shapes and letters that otherwise seem to breed and migrate to all corners of my house. I think I'll have to stick this idea in my birthday project folder. Not that I have a birthday project folder, but you know. If I did, this would be in it.

Time to slow down a bit

I've never really enjoyed this time of year (the post-holiday letdown) until recently. I used to enjoyed the chaos of November and December and find myself a little depressed come January 2.

No longer, my friends. I have enough chaos, courtesy of Delaney & Dawson, to last me all year long. I am reveling in the quiet, enjoying having the house back to normal, and not feeling guilty that I'm not handmaking all the Christmas gifts.

We cleared out all the decorations, put them in very organized red & green storage containers (I think I'm nesting already) and put out some goodies that had been in hiding. I found those awesome wood stamps at an antique shop and bought enough to spell our last name - I love them so much I want to buy the whole alphabet and spell things out all around the house.

I hinted (in a not-so-subtle way, like a link saying "BUY THIS") that I wanted this print from Swallowfield for Christmas. I think it's just perfect, don't you? And let's just pretend there's a picture in the frame below it.

What do you think of my latest obsession?? More to come on that in the next couple of days. :)