Apologies (once again!) for my few and far-between posts over the past few months... I promise to make an effort to update more often. I'll even make it my new year's resolution. Between the day job and photography jobs and crafty jobs and a baby-turned-toddler who loves to pick off laptop keys, my time on the interwebs at home has been brief!
I'm happy to say, though, that Mushy Peas is taking part in a holiday shopping event this weekend! Along with some other crafty mamas and lovely ladies, we'll be at the Christmas Shopping Event at 17 Julieann Place (off Logy Bay Road) this Saturday and Sunday from 10am-6pm. Come and check out a great selection of Newfoundland jewelry, soaps, candles, stained glass, aromatherapy products, purses, scarves, etc. etc. etc. from small businesses like Cosmos, Top 'O The Hill Glass, and others. Come for a cup of tea and a poke around...sure to be fun (and no fights for parking spots).
As for our booth, we'll have cloth diapers, fairy tutus, pacifier clips, bibs, baby legwarmers, sweater pants, mittens, and so on and so on and so on...
Hope to see you there!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Merci beaucoup!
A big THANK-YOU to those who bid on the Mushy Peas baby basket at the Bridges to Hope fundraiser at The Sheraton Hotel in St. John's Friday evening! To the generous soul who won it: hope your little one enjoys snuggling in the blankets and cuddling the little kitty. :)
Friday, March 26, 2010
Birthdays, Bollywood and Baby Teeth
These are the things that have made me an un-blogger over the last little while! Ten days ago, Baby M. had no teeth. Now he has two. Teeth coming in that quickly made for a cranky baby that needed constant snuggles (and gripe water, and a little Tylenol). He's back to his usual cheerful self now, though, and likes to rub his tongue over his new teeth (so cute). Now we just wait for the next ones! His little friend, who's a week younger than him, has seven teeth, and got FIVE of them within a month, poor little darlin'. Gah.
I've been taking Bollywood dance classes over the past few months at the gorgeous Wild Lily Dance Centre, which is run by two lovely ladies (and amazing bellydancers), Lori and Vanessa. Unlike the usual ballet-hip hop-ballroom dance schools, Wild Lily classes feature what the ladies call alternative and cultural dance styles, yoga, and hula-hooping. The school is about to move to a new location, and tonight is the last student showcase at the current studio. Our Bollywood group performed in public for the first time last weekend, at the Multicultural Women's Organization of NL's food and craft fair at the Holiday Inn, and are performing two routines tonight... we're all kinda nervous, but looking forward to it. The costumes alone are reason enough to want to take part- they're super colourful and beautiful.
There've been three birthdays in our family over the past few weeks: my little niece and her mom (my sister-in-law), and my sister, who turned 30 and finally got the birthday she's been waiting for since she was 12 years old. Seriously, she's always dreamed of being in her 30s, the little weirdo. I have a thing about birthday cards, and any other store-bought cards - it takes me a long time to pick them out. I can't give someone a card just for the sake of it; it has to say exactly what I want to say, or else I buy a blank one and write something myself. Over the last little while, I've been making them like I made Ian's valentine: sewing the card and envelope from fabric, and embroidering the front of the card. I did little unicorns and rainbows for my niece, a chihuahua for my sister-in-law, and a cute little 1950s-style waitress carrying a cake on a tray for my sister. For my sister's birthday present, I made her this:
I've been taking Bollywood dance classes over the past few months at the gorgeous Wild Lily Dance Centre, which is run by two lovely ladies (and amazing bellydancers), Lori and Vanessa. Unlike the usual ballet-hip hop-ballroom dance schools, Wild Lily classes feature what the ladies call alternative and cultural dance styles, yoga, and hula-hooping. The school is about to move to a new location, and tonight is the last student showcase at the current studio. Our Bollywood group performed in public for the first time last weekend, at the Multicultural Women's Organization of NL's food and craft fair at the Holiday Inn, and are performing two routines tonight... we're all kinda nervous, but looking forward to it. The costumes alone are reason enough to want to take part- they're super colourful and beautiful.
There've been three birthdays in our family over the past few weeks: my little niece and her mom (my sister-in-law), and my sister, who turned 30 and finally got the birthday she's been waiting for since she was 12 years old. Seriously, she's always dreamed of being in her 30s, the little weirdo. I have a thing about birthday cards, and any other store-bought cards - it takes me a long time to pick them out. I can't give someone a card just for the sake of it; it has to say exactly what I want to say, or else I buy a blank one and write something myself. Over the last little while, I've been making them like I made Ian's valentine: sewing the card and envelope from fabric, and embroidering the front of the card. I did little unicorns and rainbows for my niece, a chihuahua for my sister-in-law, and a cute little 1950s-style waitress carrying a cake on a tray for my sister. For my sister's birthday present, I made her this:
It's made with Rae's Buttercup Bag pattern (I'm a licenced seller of these purses now, yippee!). I had gotten my sister to tell me her favourite colours (blue, green and black) and found this pretty fabric... the difficult part was that it was a landscape, not just a repeated pattern, so I had to make sure both sides of the purse were cut in the exact same spot. Ian actually measured and cut the strap for me while I was cutting other pieces, and did his best to get "the most butterflies in as possible" (his words. Cute.). Anyway, the bag comes in a small and medium size, is fully lined with a reinforced strap, and has an interior pocket and a magnetic clasp. If you want one, I can customize colours and patterns. I was thinking of enlarging the pattern and using a zipper instead of the clasp to make a diaper bag- what do you think?
***
Lisa was the winner of the Munkeh in the last Celebrate the Boy giveaway, and Kerri won the legwarmers. Drop me an e-mail with your address when you get a chance, ladies, and your packages will be in the mail ASAP. Since Dara (Readily a Parent) was the only other person to comment (and a good friend), I'm sending her a package, too. :)
Monday, March 8, 2010
Apologies and Legwarmers
When I was really small, I had a book that I kept at my grandparents' house called "Wilma's Busy day," and my grandmother still laughs about having to read it over and over. It was about Wilma Flintstone, who spent an entire day trying to get a bath, but as soon as she put a foot in the tub, she'd get interrupted by the phone or the doorbell or something. I had a Wilma week this past week- I tried to do a blog post at least a dozen times, but as soon as I'd sit to write it, Baby M. would need me or the phone would ring or I'd realize the time and have to be somewhere in 15 minutes. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry!
Since the cold weather arrived (months ago now), I realized something I had no reason to even think about before, but it drives me crazy... why don't they make tights for little boys? It first occurred to me when Baby M. was christened, and I was looking for something for him to wear under his christening gown. We ended up going with a pair of plain beige Baby Legs to keep his little legs warm. Since then, there have been lots of times when we've gone for walks or it's been particularly cold when I would have loved to put some kind of legging or tights on Baby M. underneath his clothes to keep him warm, but I've yet to find any boyish tights in this city (I did buy him a pair of plain black ones, though). When I lived in the U.K., tights for little boys were an everyday common thing in kids clothing stores, and my nephew has a bunch of pairs from Ireland, so in the end, I found some cute pairs online (both striped; one gray and navy with a panda on the bum; the other green and brown with a lion).
In an effort to avoid spending $20 and up on baby legwarmers for her boys, my sister came up with a super easy and cute way to make them from a pair of long adult socks, which you can find in boyish colours and patterns (my sister, by the way, could have her own crafty blog if she wanted to, but says she'd have to call it "The Half-A**ed Crafter" since she has limited patience... LOL).
Here's how to do it:
***
Since the cold weather arrived (months ago now), I realized something I had no reason to even think about before, but it drives me crazy... why don't they make tights for little boys? It first occurred to me when Baby M. was christened, and I was looking for something for him to wear under his christening gown. We ended up going with a pair of plain beige Baby Legs to keep his little legs warm. Since then, there have been lots of times when we've gone for walks or it's been particularly cold when I would have loved to put some kind of legging or tights on Baby M. underneath his clothes to keep him warm, but I've yet to find any boyish tights in this city (I did buy him a pair of plain black ones, though). When I lived in the U.K., tights for little boys were an everyday common thing in kids clothing stores, and my nephew has a bunch of pairs from Ireland, so in the end, I found some cute pairs online (both striped; one gray and navy with a panda on the bum; the other green and brown with a lion).
In an effort to avoid spending $20 and up on baby legwarmers for her boys, my sister came up with a super easy and cute way to make them from a pair of long adult socks, which you can find in boyish colours and patterns (my sister, by the way, could have her own crafty blog if she wanted to, but says she'd have to call it "The Half-A**ed Crafter" since she has limited patience... LOL).
Here's how to do it:
Find a pair of knee socks- they're easy to come by at Wal-Mart or the dollar store.
Cut off the foot part at the ankle, just above the heel.
Cut out about a 3.5-inch section in the middle of the foot part.You won't need the other two pieces.
Fold the foot section in half widthwise, so you have a ring like this:
Put the ring on the end of the sock, the two raw edges at the bottom and lined up with the raw edge of the sock. If there's a pattern on both pieces, match them up as best as you can. A lot of patterned socks have a solid colour foot, so you won't need to do this.
Without turning the sock inside out, sew along the raw edge. Then turn the ring part - which is now the cuff - down.
If you like a wider cuff, cut the piece of the sock foot longer than 3.5 inches.
Et voila! Easy-peasy legwarmers that your boy can wear underneath pants to keep his legs nice and snuggly (I had to interrupt a very important phone call to snap this pic, as you can see). :)
For the end of Celebrate the Boy month, I'm going to do two giveaways: one for a pair of baby legwarmers, the other for another Munkeh! Leave me a comment telling me the best part about being the parent (grandparent/aunt/uncle, etc.) of a boy and which prize you'd like to have, and I'll use the random number generator again to pick two winners on Wednesday at 5pm (3:30 pm ET). If you want a chance to win both, feel free to leave two comments. :)
For me, the best part about being the mom of an adorable little boy is being able to watch him grow and learn... it's amazing to see him go from being born without the ability to focus his eyes properly to a baby who amazes me every single day with something new and brilliant he knows how to do. Of course, his little baby cuddles are the most awesome things, too. :)
Sunday, February 28, 2010
"What am I going to do with him?" asks Andreae
You've read about Andreae here a bit (you've maybe even found my blog through hers, called With the Crickets), since she's a longtime friend I admire very much. She's a veritable crafty/kitchen/literary goddess; no easy feat when you're a mother of two (and one of those is under two years old), with just 11 weeks before you become a mother of three. She's a real butter pecan, this girl... so sweet, she agreed to be a guest blogger for me, as part of my boy celebrations.
While there's technically only a day left in Celebrate the Boy month, I'm stretching it out for one more week, since I was a week late in starting. There are two more giveaways left, and one is another Munkeh, so please stay tuned. For now, though, for your reading pleasure, here's Dreae...
Before my son was born, the only child I knew well was my daughter, who is about as girlish a creature as you will ever meet. She loves princesses and fairies and bunnies and ballerinas and sparkly things. She is shy and she bites her nails and she's very smart but doesn't always speak up. She likes running races against herself, but refuses to compete with others. And if it seems like this is pure socialization, let me tell you that she's been this way since she way born, much to the amazement and bemusement of her women's-studies-degree-almost-finishing mother.
And then along came the boy. I knew he was a boy as soon as I knew I was pregnant, and began saying to myself, "What am I going to do with a boy?" By that time, I knew all about girls, or at least about one particular, archetypal girl. But a boy?
And what a boy he is. Here is a child who will climb on a chair to get onto the radiator and perform a perfect downward-dog pose with his feet on the windowsill and his hands on the dining room table, before my horrified eyes. And he's only seventeen months old. When I prevent him from standing on the piano or licking electrical outlets or throwing his blocks through the cat door and down the basement stairs, he actually yells and stomps, and when he's quite put out he'll get on his hands and knees so he can smack his head on the floor and then look at me accusingly. Since he's never spent any amount of time with anyone but his immediate family, I can say for sure that this is not learned behaviour. I've never once gotten on my hands and knees and smacked my head on the floor in rage. Never once! When he's annoyed and I hand him some toy or a sippy cup or whatever to distract him, he'll hurl the thing to the floor, and if he doesn't think I've reacted with enough pity and concern, he'll pick the thing up, look right at me, and then hurl it to the floor again.
And yet, he gives the most enthusiastic hugs, throwing his arms around my neck and hanging on with all his might. He hugs toys, too, and kisses them, and insists that I do the same (then he throws them on the floor, but at least there's hugging first). He loves his sister fiercely, and insists on coming with me to wake her up every morning, kissing her before making off with some choice item from her stash of jewellery or her spangly dress-up clothes.
While his sister was talking up a storm at his age, my boy's vocabulary is limited to "mom-mom-mom-mom," "da-da-da-da," "sis-sis-sis-sis," and "deh!" said the way you would say, "there!" after having accomplished some small feat. Placing something heavy on the coffee table: deh! Handing one of us a shoe from the shoe rack: deh! Pulling clean laundry items, one by one, on to the dirty floor: deh! Deh! Deh!
He torments the cat. He runs away when I try to change his diaper. I make towers from blocks and he smashes them, yelling triumphantly as he does it. He eats all day long and scales every vertical surface he can. He pulls hair and snatches eyeglasses. He flirts with the ladies in shops. He sneaks chocolate. Every day, he amazes me and breaks my heart a hundred times.
He's someone about whom other parents remark, "My goodness, he's such a boy?"
What am I going to do with him?
While there's technically only a day left in Celebrate the Boy month, I'm stretching it out for one more week, since I was a week late in starting. There are two more giveaways left, and one is another Munkeh, so please stay tuned. For now, though, for your reading pleasure, here's Dreae...
***
Before my son was born, the only child I knew well was my daughter, who is about as girlish a creature as you will ever meet. She loves princesses and fairies and bunnies and ballerinas and sparkly things. She is shy and she bites her nails and she's very smart but doesn't always speak up. She likes running races against herself, but refuses to compete with others. And if it seems like this is pure socialization, let me tell you that she's been this way since she way born, much to the amazement and bemusement of her women's-studies-degree-almost-finishing mother.
And then along came the boy. I knew he was a boy as soon as I knew I was pregnant, and began saying to myself, "What am I going to do with a boy?" By that time, I knew all about girls, or at least about one particular, archetypal girl. But a boy?
And what a boy he is. Here is a child who will climb on a chair to get onto the radiator and perform a perfect downward-dog pose with his feet on the windowsill and his hands on the dining room table, before my horrified eyes. And he's only seventeen months old. When I prevent him from standing on the piano or licking electrical outlets or throwing his blocks through the cat door and down the basement stairs, he actually yells and stomps, and when he's quite put out he'll get on his hands and knees so he can smack his head on the floor and then look at me accusingly. Since he's never spent any amount of time with anyone but his immediate family, I can say for sure that this is not learned behaviour. I've never once gotten on my hands and knees and smacked my head on the floor in rage. Never once! When he's annoyed and I hand him some toy or a sippy cup or whatever to distract him, he'll hurl the thing to the floor, and if he doesn't think I've reacted with enough pity and concern, he'll pick the thing up, look right at me, and then hurl it to the floor again.
And yet, he gives the most enthusiastic hugs, throwing his arms around my neck and hanging on with all his might. He hugs toys, too, and kisses them, and insists that I do the same (then he throws them on the floor, but at least there's hugging first). He loves his sister fiercely, and insists on coming with me to wake her up every morning, kissing her before making off with some choice item from her stash of jewellery or her spangly dress-up clothes.
While his sister was talking up a storm at his age, my boy's vocabulary is limited to "mom-mom-mom-mom," "da-da-da-da," "sis-sis-sis-sis," and "deh!" said the way you would say, "there!" after having accomplished some small feat. Placing something heavy on the coffee table: deh! Handing one of us a shoe from the shoe rack: deh! Pulling clean laundry items, one by one, on to the dirty floor: deh! Deh! Deh!
He torments the cat. He runs away when I try to change his diaper. I make towers from blocks and he smashes them, yelling triumphantly as he does it. He eats all day long and scales every vertical surface he can. He pulls hair and snatches eyeglasses. He flirts with the ladies in shops. He sneaks chocolate. Every day, he amazes me and breaks my heart a hundred times.
He's someone about whom other parents remark, "My goodness, he's such a boy?"
What am I going to do with him?
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Tutorial: Baby Boy Birth Announcements
Hand-making cards is something I would love, love, LOVE to be able to do. I've tried, tons of times, but can never get them the way I want them- they always end up looking a little too scrapbook-y, not to mention I'm rubbish at cutting straight lines. When I first saw the cards Meghan, whom I know through a friend, had made, I was in awe- they were Christening invitations, and were gorgeous. I've since seen Christmas cards and birth announcements she's done, and they're unlike anything you could ever find in a card shop. Her style is minimal, classy and beautiful.
I had already asked Meghan if she would do a guest blog post for me for Celebrate the Boy month when I saw her display at the Get Baked! art exhibit a couple of weeks ago. This lady did a series of 99 beautiful cards, all with a cupcake theme: some were sparkly, some had googly eyes, and some were even SCENTED like vanilla cupcakes! Needless to say, they went over a treat (get it? Gah, sorry :P), and during the slower times of the show, the other artists persuaded Meghan to give us a mini card-making class.
For this tutorial, she's chosen to show us how to make a baby boy's birth announcement - no straight cutting required! - and says the same technique could also be used to make birthday party invitations. I've already got her booked to make Baby M.'s birthday party invitations... six months from now.
Meghan has her own blog, http://www.driventoink.com/, and her fantastic hobby is also her day job, since she's store manager of The Paperie, here in St. John's. Without further ado, here's Meghan...(click on each of her photos to see the larger version)
Hi everyone, I’m super excited to be a guest blogger this week on Mushy Peas! I guess you might like to know a little bit about me… my name is Meghan and I’m addicted to stamps. Luckily I am able to feed this addiction by working at The Paperie, our very own locally owned and operated scrapbooking and rubber stamping store right here in St. John’s! I have been making handmade greeting cards for the last seven years and three years ago I made my first attempt at baby announcements for my friend Ally.
At Ally’s first baby shower I gave her a little IOU for birth announcements but last year I got a bit more creative for her second daughter and created two portfolios with 12 blank announcements in each one. Here’s a masculine version of Ally’s baby announcements that I created especially to “Celebrate the Boy” this month!
This first picture shows the finished set. To create the portfolio to house all the announcements I used the handy-dandy AccuCut die-cutting machine at The Paperie – see the step-by-step picture tutorial on my blog. I decorated the cover of the portfolio using a few layers of cardstock and rubber stamps. The little ark image was a rubber wood-mounted stamp by A Muse Artstamps which I stamped on a scrap of white paper and then punched out using an Oval paper punch. I coloured in the image with Copic markers and adhered to the front of my portfolio with 3-D foam tape.
The phrase “Boy oh boy” was an acrylic stamp which came in an A Muse stamp set with a bunch of coordinating stamps, as seen in the picture above. Unlike rubber wood-mounted stamps, acrylic stamps are mounted on a clear acrylic block so that you can see exactly where you’re stamping – this is handy when you’re trying to get exact placement. All colouring and stamping should be done prior to assembly with double-sided tape.
Here’s what the inside of the portfolio looks like…
I printed the wording on all of the cards before folding them and adding the image to make things go a little quicker…
Here’s what the finished announcements look like, inside and out….
These announcements are so great to have on hand for a friend's shower. They can be decorated in any colour and if the sex of the baby is unknown you could always go with a yellow or green colour scheme and just say “We’re proud to announce the arrival of our new baby!” Search the Internet for inspiration when trying to come up with the wording – the possibilities are endless. And if you’re not feeling particularly crafty, you can always give me a call!
I had already asked Meghan if she would do a guest blog post for me for Celebrate the Boy month when I saw her display at the Get Baked! art exhibit a couple of weeks ago. This lady did a series of 99 beautiful cards, all with a cupcake theme: some were sparkly, some had googly eyes, and some were even SCENTED like vanilla cupcakes! Needless to say, they went over a treat (get it? Gah, sorry :P), and during the slower times of the show, the other artists persuaded Meghan to give us a mini card-making class.
For this tutorial, she's chosen to show us how to make a baby boy's birth announcement - no straight cutting required! - and says the same technique could also be used to make birthday party invitations. I've already got her booked to make Baby M.'s birthday party invitations... six months from now.
Meghan has her own blog, http://www.driventoink.com/, and her fantastic hobby is also her day job, since she's store manager of The Paperie, here in St. John's. Without further ado, here's Meghan...(click on each of her photos to see the larger version)
***
Hi everyone, I’m super excited to be a guest blogger this week on Mushy Peas! I guess you might like to know a little bit about me… my name is Meghan and I’m addicted to stamps. Luckily I am able to feed this addiction by working at The Paperie, our very own locally owned and operated scrapbooking and rubber stamping store right here in St. John’s! I have been making handmade greeting cards for the last seven years and three years ago I made my first attempt at baby announcements for my friend Ally.
At Ally’s first baby shower I gave her a little IOU for birth announcements but last year I got a bit more creative for her second daughter and created two portfolios with 12 blank announcements in each one. Here’s a masculine version of Ally’s baby announcements that I created especially to “Celebrate the Boy” this month!
This first picture shows the finished set. To create the portfolio to house all the announcements I used the handy-dandy AccuCut die-cutting machine at The Paperie – see the step-by-step picture tutorial on my blog. I decorated the cover of the portfolio using a few layers of cardstock and rubber stamps. The little ark image was a rubber wood-mounted stamp by A Muse Artstamps which I stamped on a scrap of white paper and then punched out using an Oval paper punch. I coloured in the image with Copic markers and adhered to the front of my portfolio with 3-D foam tape.
The phrase “Boy oh boy” was an acrylic stamp which came in an A Muse stamp set with a bunch of coordinating stamps, as seen in the picture above. Unlike rubber wood-mounted stamps, acrylic stamps are mounted on a clear acrylic block so that you can see exactly where you’re stamping – this is handy when you’re trying to get exact placement. All colouring and stamping should be done prior to assembly with double-sided tape.
Here’s what the inside of the portfolio looks like…
I printed the wording on all of the cards before folding them and adding the image to make things go a little quicker…
Here’s what the finished announcements look like, inside and out….
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
That's Mr. Cutie-Pie to you...
This is Baby M.'s newest cousin, Ethan (the owner of the hat below), wearing a Mushy Peas onesie we gave him for Valentine's Day. Sweetheart!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
What's a baby hat without ear flaps?
Between a computer glitch on Thursday and a super busy weekend that included pureeing organic sweet potatoes into baby food at midnight, I haven't found a second to update until now.... but the computer seems to have fixed itself (for the moment), Baby M. is napping, Ian is watching the Canada/U.S. hockey game, and all chores are done for the night, so here I am. Woo hoo!
I'm happy to say that the good ol' random number picker chose the number 3 as the winner for the jammies giveaway, which happened to be Kelly De Cecco:
"Kelly De Cecco said: Oh, me too! But I also have two boys. OK, cutest thing about L, no matter how crappy of a night he's had, he wakes with this oh so innocent smile on his face as if to say "couldn't have been me making all that noise last night Mommy??" Cutest thing about E.....hard to pick b/c there are so many :>) But he grooves to hip hop music doing the robot dance (and I promise I didn't teach it to him)...and he also says night-night to everything in his room, including his tractor, cement truck, garbage truck, and crane. Oh to be two years old!!!"
Kelly is an old friend of mine who now lives in a different province, so we haven't seen each other (outside of Facebook) for.... how long, Kelly? Ten years, at least! Her two-year-old son, E., is a little cutie-pie (as seen in pictures), and she recently had two more darlings: a twin boy and girl. I'm very happy to be sending the pajamas her way!
Giveaway # 3 for Celebrate the Boy Month to be announced in my next post. :)
I had a wonderful guest blogger lined up for this weekend with an awesome boy-related craft tutorial (and this lady is a fab teacher), but she's one busy, busy lady, so she'll be here on Wednesday instead. She's worth the wait, I promise. In the meantime, here's a brilliant tutorial by Rae (part of her Boy Month celebrations) I found, showing how to make a man's button-down shirt into one for a little boy. It takes away the hardest parts of making a shirt from scratch, and the finished product looks far more complicated than it is (plus, if you can buy two adult shirts the same, you could have matching Daddy/Baby outfits... how adorable would that be?!).
I made Baby M. a hat this past week, which he hated before it was even started. He hates all hats, and when I say hate, I mean he starts crying if he sees us with one he recognizes in our hands. Luckily for him, it ended up too small, so it was a gift for his newest cousin (one month old), instead. Unluckily for Baby M., I've enlarged my pattern!
I realized after I made the hat that the colours are exactly like boy scout (Beavers) colours; LOL. The inside is some brown fleece I had here at home, and the outside is blue velveteen (remember the three metres I had and didn't know what to do with? This took about 0.3 of a metre).
My projects for this week are some embroidered two-piece outfits (top and pants) for boys and girls... and fuzzy kittens!
I'm happy to say that the good ol' random number picker chose the number 3 as the winner for the jammies giveaway, which happened to be Kelly De Cecco:
"Kelly De Cecco said: Oh, me too! But I also have two boys. OK, cutest thing about L, no matter how crappy of a night he's had, he wakes with this oh so innocent smile on his face as if to say "couldn't have been me making all that noise last night Mommy??" Cutest thing about E.....hard to pick b/c there are so many :>) But he grooves to hip hop music doing the robot dance (and I promise I didn't teach it to him)...and he also says night-night to everything in his room, including his tractor, cement truck, garbage truck, and crane. Oh to be two years old!!!"
Kelly is an old friend of mine who now lives in a different province, so we haven't seen each other (outside of Facebook) for.... how long, Kelly? Ten years, at least! Her two-year-old son, E., is a little cutie-pie (as seen in pictures), and she recently had two more darlings: a twin boy and girl. I'm very happy to be sending the pajamas her way!
Giveaway # 3 for Celebrate the Boy Month to be announced in my next post. :)
I had a wonderful guest blogger lined up for this weekend with an awesome boy-related craft tutorial (and this lady is a fab teacher), but she's one busy, busy lady, so she'll be here on Wednesday instead. She's worth the wait, I promise. In the meantime, here's a brilliant tutorial by Rae (part of her Boy Month celebrations) I found, showing how to make a man's button-down shirt into one for a little boy. It takes away the hardest parts of making a shirt from scratch, and the finished product looks far more complicated than it is (plus, if you can buy two adult shirts the same, you could have matching Daddy/Baby outfits... how adorable would that be?!).
I made Baby M. a hat this past week, which he hated before it was even started. He hates all hats, and when I say hate, I mean he starts crying if he sees us with one he recognizes in our hands. Luckily for him, it ended up too small, so it was a gift for his newest cousin (one month old), instead. Unluckily for Baby M., I've enlarged my pattern!
I realized after I made the hat that the colours are exactly like boy scout (Beavers) colours; LOL. The inside is some brown fleece I had here at home, and the outside is blue velveteen (remember the three metres I had and didn't know what to do with? This took about 0.3 of a metre).
My projects for this week are some embroidered two-piece outfits (top and pants) for boys and girls... and fuzzy kittens!
Monday, February 15, 2010
Valentines, Cupcakes, and Boy Jammies!
When I was little, Valentine's Day was my second-favourite day of the year, after Christmas Eve. My mom had a little valentine tree (a three-foot Christmas tree she decorated with sparkly hearts and little Cupids), and we'd cut hearts out of red and pink construction paper and paper doilies and tape them in the windows. The valentines we gave out at school didn't come from a box, like kids' valentines do now, but from a big punch-out book (anyone else remember that? What ever happened to those?) Punching them out was part of the fun... first you had to be careful not to rip them, and then you had to be strategic about which ones you were giving to whom, lest you give a boy you didn't really like (but you were giving a valentine to, to be nice... and because your mom made you) the wrong idea about what you were trying to say. We'd eat cinnamon hearts until our tongues burned and we'd try to get those Hot Lips candy to stick to our mouths and pretend they were our real lips.
This year, Mom told my sister Erin and me (we always trade little valentine's gifts) not to give her anything unless we either A- made it, or B- found it second-hand (Mom likes thrift shops like we do, mainly for dishes- she's incredible at finding dishes and trinkets that she pays a couple dollars for, then goes home and checks on eBay and finds they're worth far more). Last week, my sister told me she had found mom a gravy boat at one of the second-hand stores, to add to her collection of interesting/beautiful pieces of china. A few days later, I was at a different second-hand store and found a set of four cups and saucers and a little plate, white with a gold pattern, that I thought Mom would like, so I bought it. When I gave them to her yesterday, she opened the tissue paper and said, "Oh! Erin gave me the gravy boat like this!" Erin and I had bought, without knowing it and at different stores, pieces of the same china! Crazy.
For Baby's M.'s first Valentine's Day, I made him a t-shirt, using cotton applique and embroidery...
This year, Mom told my sister Erin and me (we always trade little valentine's gifts) not to give her anything unless we either A- made it, or B- found it second-hand (Mom likes thrift shops like we do, mainly for dishes- she's incredible at finding dishes and trinkets that she pays a couple dollars for, then goes home and checks on eBay and finds they're worth far more). Last week, my sister told me she had found mom a gravy boat at one of the second-hand stores, to add to her collection of interesting/beautiful pieces of china. A few days later, I was at a different second-hand store and found a set of four cups and saucers and a little plate, white with a gold pattern, that I thought Mom would like, so I bought it. When I gave them to her yesterday, she opened the tissue paper and said, "Oh! Erin gave me the gravy boat like this!" Erin and I had bought, without knowing it and at different stores, pieces of the same china! Crazy.
For Baby's M.'s first Valentine's Day, I made him a t-shirt, using cotton applique and embroidery...
I made the same shirt for two of his cousins (Little E. and his brother, who's just six weeks younger than Baby M.).
I made this one for his cousin Kylie, as well as his "girlfriend" (Ally's daughter), Sarah:
I made a valentine for Ian, too, using this pattern from the Sew, Mama, Sew! blog, although my envelope didn't come together nearly as nice as hers (and I apologize in advance for the crappiness of the photos).
I used denim for the outside of the envelope and plain broadcloth for the rest...I think next time, I'll use a thinner fabric for the outside. I also zig-zagged around the edge of the note instead of topstitching, like the tutorial says. Ian thought it was cute, although he wasn't sure what it was when I gave him the envelope at first: "You're giving me a purse?" LOL. If I had more time, I think I might have embroidered a stamp and a postmark on the front of the envelope.
*****
The Get Baked! show went off brilliantly, and we raised more than $1,100 for Marguerite's Place... yippee! The cupcake buffet was *incredible* (I have no words to describe this, honestly), and there were tons of amazing pieces of art. Alicia E. did a great job of putting the show together, bless her. I'll write more and post some pics in the coming days (the artworks that weren't sold are still available to be bought, and there's going to be a Facebook group set up for this, I think). For now, though, here's Giveaway #2 for Celebrate the Boy Month!
I have enough of this blue and white, dinosaur-printed cozy flannel to make a pair of pajamas (similar to the girl version Olivia is wearing a few posts ago) in any size you like, from 3 months up to 4T. Leave me a comment under this post, telling me a cute or funny story about your favourite boy (again, it could be your own or a nephew/friend/cousin, etc.), and I'll use the random number generator again on Thursday at 5pm (3:30pm ET) to pick a winner. Feel free to enter again, if you already commented under the Munkeh post! :)
On the weekend, there'll be a tutorial from a guest blogger for Boy Month. It's a good one!
My cute story is about my second-favourite boy in the world, 2-year-old Little E. He's taken to calling Erin (his mom), "Darling." She tucks him in bed at night and he says, "Goodnight, Darling" as he gives her a kiss. Adorable!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Munkeh's New Home
Munkeh had 14 potential new homes as of 5 pm today- thanks so much, all you lovely ladies, for commenting and taking part in the giveaway (and telling me all about your cutie-tootie little boys). I used the trusty random number generator tool at random.org and it gave me the number 8, which means the winner is Laura...
"Laura said...
I have the most amazing 2 year old boy named Nick,
and he would love a Mr. Munkeh"
I'll e-mail Laura for her address, and Munkeh will soon be on his way to meet his new pal, Nick!
The next giveaway will start on Monday- please come check it out. This one will be a custom-made project! I've got at least three more Celebrate the Boy giveaways planned over the next few weeks.... who knows, maybe I'll even add another one, for another Munkeh. ;) Enter as many of them as you wish.
Speaking of boys... Baby M. had a needle yesterday... gah. I hate, hate, HATE taking him for his vaccines for a whole bunch of reasons (but I'd hate, hate, HATE polio or meningitis more, obviously!), but he did well- only cried for a second, and had no side effects. Tonight I'm putting the finishing touches on some cupcake stuff that I took advantage of the extra week before the Get Baked! show to make. The opening reception is at the Arts and Culture Centre tomorrow evening at 7:30 (there'll be a CUPCAKE BUFFET there... just sayin'), so if you're in St. John's, please come out and say hi!
"Laura said...
I have the most amazing 2 year old boy named Nick,
and he would love a Mr. Munkeh"
I'll e-mail Laura for her address, and Munkeh will soon be on his way to meet his new pal, Nick!
The next giveaway will start on Monday- please come check it out. This one will be a custom-made project! I've got at least three more Celebrate the Boy giveaways planned over the next few weeks.... who knows, maybe I'll even add another one, for another Munkeh. ;) Enter as many of them as you wish.
Speaking of boys... Baby M. had a needle yesterday... gah. I hate, hate, HATE taking him for his vaccines for a whole bunch of reasons (but I'd hate, hate, HATE polio or meningitis more, obviously!), but he did well- only cried for a second, and had no side effects. Tonight I'm putting the finishing touches on some cupcake stuff that I took advantage of the extra week before the Get Baked! show to make. The opening reception is at the Arts and Culture Centre tomorrow evening at 7:30 (there'll be a CUPCAKE BUFFET there... just sayin'), so if you're in St. John's, please come out and say hi!
Monday, February 8, 2010
Celebrate the Boy!
In honour of Baby M., I'm joining Rae (whom I admire very much) and other crafty bloggers in Celebrate the Boy Month! It's an entire month of posts of boy-related sewing and crafts. While I'm not going to do strictly boy posts, I'm doing giveaways every week for the next four weeks, starting with...
Mr. Munkeh! He's been the most popular Mushy Peas item so far, and he's particularly happy to be part of the celebration. He's sewn from jersey and felt made from recycled pop bottles, with polyester stuffing.
If you'd like to have Munkeh, leave me a comment under this post (feel free to say a few words about the boy in your life- and it doesn't have to be a son, either... nephew/grandson/friend, etc. are all welcome!) with your e-mail address. I'll use the random number generator tool to pick a winner Thursday evening, at, say, 5 p.m. Newfoundland time (3:30 ET), and Munkeh'll be in the mail, on his way to you ASAP.
I'm also hoping to have a couple guest bloggers (some super-crafty moms) as well as a quick craft tutorial or two, so please come back often!
This is the boy I'm celebrating....
Mr. Munkeh! He's been the most popular Mushy Peas item so far, and he's particularly happy to be part of the celebration. He's sewn from jersey and felt made from recycled pop bottles, with polyester stuffing.
If you'd like to have Munkeh, leave me a comment under this post (feel free to say a few words about the boy in your life- and it doesn't have to be a son, either... nephew/grandson/friend, etc. are all welcome!) with your e-mail address. I'll use the random number generator tool to pick a winner Thursday evening, at, say, 5 p.m. Newfoundland time (3:30 ET), and Munkeh'll be in the mail, on his way to you ASAP.
I'm also hoping to have a couple guest bloggers (some super-crafty moms) as well as a quick craft tutorial or two, so please come back often!
This is the boy I'm celebrating....
See the look on his face? It's not just a smile for the camera- he is literally smiling almost every moment he's awake! About a month before my due date, I had a bit of a panic attack, thinking how much my life was going to change and wondering how I was going to handle it. It's changed, that's for sure, but already I can't remember what life was like before him. And I wouldn't want that life back, either. It's amazing how at this age, I was pretty sure I knew what it felt like to love someone, until this little guy popped out (of ME, which still blows my mind) and redefined everything!
These pics were taken by the fantastic Sandra-Lee Elford, who came to our house two weeks ago for a photoshoot, and with whom Baby M. fell in love with almost immediately- he let her take his pictures for 2-and a half hours!
Friday, February 5, 2010
The 10-Minute Baby Bib
Baby M. reached a big milestone this week- eating solid food! So far he's had pureed organic sweet potatoes (tomorrow we're going to try avocado), and he loves it! We had no trouble getting him to eat from the very beginning, and now he even squeals in delight when he sees he's about to be fed. He only had a couple of big bibs (tons of little spit-up bibs), so I made him a few. They're super easy to make- literally took me about 10 minutes to do one while M. was napping. I used some dinosaur-printed flannel I already had from when I was making him fitted diapers before he was born, and I used a piece of the waterproof diaper liner fabric (PUL) for the back. You could also use terrycloth (an old towel, even) or microfibre for the back.
I used one of the bibs Baby M. already had as a template, and cut one shape from the flannel, one from the PUL.
With the right sides of the fabric facing each other, I used the machine to sew the two pieces together, leaving an opening at the bottom of the bib. I then turned it inside-out.
The Get Baked! Art For Your Sweet Tooth art show was supposed to start tonight, but was postponed because of the raging blizzard outside. Instead, it's starting next Friday, February 12, at the St. John's Arts and Culture Centre, with the opening reception (featuring a cupcake buffet!) at 7:30pm. It's running for the whole weekend. That means I've got an extra week to put the finishing touches on some pieces; yippee! I ended up doing more than I first thought: the two applique/embroidery pieces, some miniature wall art pieces, and some cupcakes made from recycled sweaters and needle-felting. With some help from my friend Adam of Electric Twilight, who's a fantabulous graphic designer, I also did a photography series that's a visual recipe for vanilla cupcakes... instead of written quantities and directions, you follow photos (i.e., a picture of a cup of milk, etc.) to make the cupcakes. We put it together into a little book, and made 25 copies, which we're selling at the show. The best part about doing that project was that I had to make the cupcakes to photograph!
I used one of the bibs Baby M. already had as a template, and cut one shape from the flannel, one from the PUL.
Then I used a fancy-schmancy applique stitch on my sewing machine to just topstich around the edges of the bib (tucking in the edge that I had left open). A regular stitch would work just as well.
And then sewed on the velcro: one piece on the top of one side of the neck; one piece on the bottom of the other side.
If I were making these to sell, I might use a bit of matching trim/bias tape instead of the topstitch, but it's cute both ways.Serves its purpose well in any case. Here's my little sweet-potato face putting it into action:
******
The Get Baked! Art For Your Sweet Tooth art show was supposed to start tonight, but was postponed because of the raging blizzard outside. Instead, it's starting next Friday, February 12, at the St. John's Arts and Culture Centre, with the opening reception (featuring a cupcake buffet!) at 7:30pm. It's running for the whole weekend. That means I've got an extra week to put the finishing touches on some pieces; yippee! I ended up doing more than I first thought: the two applique/embroidery pieces, some miniature wall art pieces, and some cupcakes made from recycled sweaters and needle-felting. With some help from my friend Adam of Electric Twilight, who's a fantabulous graphic designer, I also did a photography series that's a visual recipe for vanilla cupcakes... instead of written quantities and directions, you follow photos (i.e., a picture of a cup of milk, etc.) to make the cupcakes. We put it together into a little book, and made 25 copies, which we're selling at the show. The best part about doing that project was that I had to make the cupcakes to photograph!
These were the final products, which were shared with my nephew, Little E. He says "cupcake" like it's two words ("Tara! Look! Cup! Cake!"), and it's so adorable, it was worth making them just to hear it. :)
I recently learned, while poking around online for inspiration for a good recipe to use, that cupcakes came about because baking large cakes was difficult over a hearth, and usually came out burned, so people in the 19th century started baking them in teacups, which was quicker and easier. When I lived in the U.K., I never heard them called cupcakes... over there, they're "fairy cakes;" maybe because they're small enough for the fairies to eat. Cute!
Friday, January 29, 2010
Knit One, Purrrrrrl One
Look at this guy!
This is what happens when you hide your wool bag in the spare bedroom, but the cat slips in unnoticed when you go in there to get something from the closet, and you end up leaving and closing the door behind you and LEAVING HIM IN THERE ALONE! This is Jean-Paul, playful attacker of ankles, thief of Christmas bulbs (see my previous post), and lover of balls of wool! Ever since he was a tiny, tiny kitten, J.P.'s been able to SMELL wool... seriously, there's no place I can hide it. This cat can UNZIP DUFFLE BAGS with his TEETH to get at balls of wool. There's been many a morning that we've woken up to find wool that we had hidden on the top shelf of a closet strewn from upstairs to downstairs to the basement. Argh.
When he's this cute, though, I can't stay mad at him. Anyone any good at untangling?
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Power Outages and Dancin' Shoes
Last night I had a blog post just about done, photos uploaded, when the power went out! There was apparently a pole fire somewhere nearby (that's what the recording said when we called to find out the approximate time it would be back), and 6,000 people in the city lost power for three hours. It was late, so we just went to bed, no worries... except the blog post didn't save! Oh, well.
I've been tagged by the lovely Andreae in a blog photo game. The challenge is to find seven red things in your house and post them, then tag other bloggers to do the same. Here goes...
I've been tagged by the lovely Andreae in a blog photo game. The challenge is to find seven red things in your house and post them, then tag other bloggers to do the same. Here goes...
Butterflies on our kitchen windows
Vintage red train bag I got for a steal last year! I use it instead of a briefcase for work
Favourite red shoes... Olivia calls these "the most beautiful shoes I've ever seen in my entire life!"
Pretty scarf brought back to me from Paris by my lovely mother-in-law
Ribbon on Baby M.'s teddy bear (Franklin- he used to be mine when I was young)
Christmas bulb that was stolen and hidden by our imp of a cat, J.P., so it didn't make it back in the boxes with the rest of the Christmas decorations
And something that's not actually in my house, but just because it's a rainy day in January...
Flower in our next-door-neighbour's garden. This photo was taken in July... imagine an 8 months pregnant lady kneeling down in a flower bed with a camera- that's how I got it. The neighbours weren't actually home at the time.
It's your turn,
and
Tag, you're it!
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Sparkly Snowflake Dreams
We had a little houseguest this weekend-- my 10-year-old cousin, Olivia. She's a good girl, sweet and smart and the best hair-braider there is, and Baby M. loves her, so we were happy she came to visit. I had to run out to Fabricville for thread, and Olivia came with me. We were looking through some of the material when Olivia's eye was caught by a bolt of flannel, which happened to be lime green (her favourite colour) with pink stars (bonus) and silver-sparkly snowflakes (glitter = double bonus, especially when you're 10), that was on sale for $2.99 a metre. We bought a metre and a half, and turned it into this:
Jammies (not the cat, LOL)! Pajama pants are one of the easiest things ever to make- cutting out the fabric is seriously the longest part. I've made Ian a pair of the same type of pants, and used a similar pattern to make little fleece pants for Baby M. (fleece, by the way, wicks away wetness, so if your child is wearing fleece pants and has a diaper leak, the pants are almost waterproof- the leak won't reach the outside. Use fabric softener and/or a Bounce sheet when you do laundry, and this will work even better).Olivia and I put a cuff at the bottom of the leg, and made a drawstring waist.
With the scraps of material we had left over, I cut out a heart, ironed it on some interfacing, and stitched it onto one of my old (but not too old) white t-shirts to make a matching pajama top. Once she tried the outfit on, she ended up wearing it home. :)
The cupcake projects are coming along slowly, but I'm getting there... the Get Baked show is a week from Friday coming, so I've got to get my arse in gear! I'm also in the process of organizing a project with a Haitian friend to benefit children in Haiti affected by the earthquake... if you're crafty and are willing to help out, please check back for details, by the end of this week! In the meantime, please click on the CraftHope for Haiti button on the right to check out CraftHope's shop on Etsy. Crafty people all over the world have donated items for sale, and the proceeds are going to Doctors Without Borders for their work in Haiti. $20,000 raised so far, and there are some really gorgeous things (including a super sweet toddler dress made by Andreae- see my previous blog post!).
Monday, January 18, 2010
Baking Birthday Cakes and Cupcake Art
It's freezing here today. Freezing! And I just made the mistake of going downstairs to the kitchen to turn up the heat in my bare feet... gah. Baby M. and I are cozying up in bed, and when he wakes up from his nap, we're going to bake a birthday cake for his nanny (I'll bake; he'll supervise from his musical swing). Been busy these past few days with the work for the Get Baked! show... today I've been working on the sketches for the embroidery wall-art pieces, and I think I've finally got it all under control! I was planning to do one large piece, but I'm going to break it down into three semi-large pieces instead. Now I've got to turn the sketches into heat transfers, iron them onto the cotton I'm using, and then do the stitching... and then they go washed, ironed, stretched and framed. Not a quick process, but hopefully the finished product will raise at least a bit of money for a great cause!
Speaking of baking, if you're into crafty things and like baking, too, please check out my good friend Andreae's blog, With the Crickets. I've known Dreae since junior high school and she's now the domestic goddess of St. John's. Seriously- she's even the go-to girl for media outlets that want to do stories on truffle-making (she's also my go-to girl for all things gluten-free). She writes a food column for a local arts paper, is married to a lovely poet, and has two supermodel kids, with another on the way. AND she can turn things like this:
Speaking of baking, if you're into crafty things and like baking, too, please check out my good friend Andreae's blog, With the Crickets. I've known Dreae since junior high school and she's now the domestic goddess of St. John's. Seriously- she's even the go-to girl for media outlets that want to do stories on truffle-making (she's also my go-to girl for all things gluten-free). She writes a food column for a local arts paper, is married to a lovely poet, and has two supermodel kids, with another on the way. AND she can turn things like this:
2 packages of fabric dye and a jersey bedsheet
into this:
A pretty dress! Amazing, wha'?
(I love this picture, not only for the dress, but for her little boy and what he's doing!)
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
"A mouse took a stroll through the deep, dark wood... A fox saw the mouse and the mouse looked good..."
The local fabric specialty store has a huge sale on right now, and I managed to get out there for a few minutes, anyway. Baby M. is soon going to be too tall for his infant carseat and into a bigger seat, which means he won't be able to use the little cuddle bag he's got now, so I went looking for something soft but a bit heavy to sew on the outside of the fleece one I'm making him. I was thinking corduroy at first, but then saw something different which was on sale for a much better price. As a result, I now have this:
Three metres of I'm-not-sure-what-to-do-with-it
light blue velveteen!
"If you see a material that you love and it's on sale, buy it, because you'll always find something to do with it," my mom told me tonight when I showed it to her (and my mom is the best seamstress/cook/painter/crafty lady I know... that's not just fluffy daughter talk, either). Well, I love this material - the colour is really pretty and it's super soft - but I have no idea how to use it. I'm thinking maybe a little pair of pants for Baby M., or overalls? A little dress for my baby niece? Maybe another stuffed toy? Help! Suggestions would be appreciated! :)
I also bought some fleece (on sale for $5 a metre- woo hoo) - blue with Peter Rabbit-style bunnies - to make a blanket for my adorable, just-born nephew (and, sadly, I only know he's adorable from pictures, because I can't go visit until my cold is gone)! Five babies in two years in our family, and only one of them a
girl.
Bedtime for me, and finishing Russell Brand's autobiography. I have a big crush on him, but the book is a little... jarring. What should I have expected, though, really? Night night! :)
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Art for your Sweet Tooth!
Now that they're officially out, I can give details on the art exhibit I was asked to take part in. Called "Get Baked: Art for Your Sweet Tooth," the show is taking place at the St. John's Arts and Culture Centre next month, and is a fundraiser for Marguerite's Place. If you're not in St. John's or aren't aware of it, Marguerite's Place, when finished, will include supportive housing units for single women over 30, as well other programs run by the St. John's Status of Women Council and Women's Centre. The facility is named in honour of Marguerite Dyson, a Women's Centre volunteer, who was murdered in her St. John's boarding house in 1996, at the age of 51.
Not only is the show for a great cause, it has a great theme: Cupcakes! The whole project was the idea of Alicia E., curator and tattoo artist/graphic artist/art glass designer, who happens to love cupcakes more than anyone I know (she's even got cupcake tattoos). Alicia is also one of the most hard-working people I know, and has organized all kinds of artistic events as fundraisers for various charities around the city.
It's a mixed media exhibit, and I'm doing three pieces: one is a photography piece (for which I'll need a kitchen that has more natural light than mine- anyone got one they'd like to volunteer? There'll be cupcakes in it for you!), one is a fairly sizeable embroidery piece (wall art), and the other involves one of my favourite mediums... recycled sweaters.Will post some pics as they get nearer to being finished. :)
There are going to be some pretty interesting pieces on display and for sale (including Jared Reid's, which involves 750 plaster cupcakes sculptures!), so if you're around, please come and check it out!
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Hellooooo There...
Monsters!
These are the little toys I made for my niece, nephew and Baby M. for Old Christmas Day (and finally finished). Ian drew the pattern for me, and they're sewn with normal quilting cotton and felt (made from recycled pop bottles), stuffed with polyester batting and hand-embroidered. The flowered one has my niece's name on the heart (Kylie); the one with dots has "Roarr!" on it. Let me know if you like 'em, and I might make them a regular thing. ;)
For my other nephew, two-year-old Little E., I made a blanket... but by "made" I mean just sewing a hem on a big piece of fleece and blanket-stitching around the edges with wool. His latest obsession is hockey (and he's very inventive- he can make his own stick and puck out of anything; when he was at our house last weekend, he found the pitchfork from Ian's Halloween costume and a plastic Christmas tree bulb, and said, "Look, Tara! Hockey game!" as he hit the bulb down the hallway), and it just happened that the local fabric store has a huge sale on fleece, including a hockey player print. He calls blankets "ballies," so this is now his hockey bally. I think my sister's got some 5 a.m. rides to the rink in her future!
Oh, the weather outside is frightful, so we're staying in tonight to watch movies. I'm actually glad to have a bit of snow now... we bought Baby M. a little infant sleigh about a month ago, and as soon as we did, the weather turned warm and we haven't been able to take him out in it. This is enough snow, though, mind you. Did you hear me up there?!
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