{ sewing: home } nursery sneak peek

Happy Friday! 

The nursery is coming along.  It's not finished, but I couldn't go any longer without sharing photos.  She's five months old already, for crying out loud.  (*sniff*  Really?)

I do believe the dresser was made to be this color.  It feels like full-size Barbie furniture now.

I'm having fun with Babygirl's first initial, can you tell?

Ok, full size pics soon.  First there is the matter of a dresser mirror.  And I do need to finish those curtains.  Of course, I should take them down so that when she is sleeping, I can actually work on them.  Details.

Have a good weekend, my friends!

{ home } Christmas decorating

I know, it's not even Thanksgiving.  But let's be fair;  everything takes me extra time these days, so I might as well start before I get behind the ball completely.  And there are no outside decs yet.  And the tree isn't up (more on that later.)  The holiday is just trickling in, so to speak.  We're not blasting holiday music.  Yet.

I've hung ornaments from my kitchen curtains with ribbon.

And brought out the greenery.  This year I wanted to switch all the red I've used forever with some blues and greens. I didn't get rid of any of my old stuff -- I'll reuse most of it downstairs in the man cave.

It helps to discuss Important Things like New Christmas Color Schemes with your friends, because they might happen upon 30 peacock blue glass ornaments at a garage sale and pick them up for 50 cents.  Thank you, Jenn.

Or they might call to tell you about all the teal and blue ornaments at a dollar store in town.  Thank you, Michelle.

I stuffed some 2008 clearance chartreuse poinsettias and berries into my old standby pot-o-greens and wrapped a  ribbon around the lampshade. Woohoo!  Festive.

As for the tree.  If you have ever wondered how long it would take two adults to remove every light from a full 10' pre-lit tree, wonder no more!  Six man hours.  I know this because that is how hubs and I spent our Sunday afternoon.  Our 5-year old tree had only 1 of the 9 strands working, so we decided to cut them all out. Talk about quality together time.

We thought we'd celebrate by putting new lights on the old beauty.  So we left the top off, since it's kind of heavy, and we'll wait until we have lights on it before we stick it on the top.  That's right.  The top of my (now, light-less) Christmas tree is on the floor in my living room.  Because nothing says Let's Celebrate the Blessings of the Season like dime store decorations and a decapitated artificial douglas fir. 

Before you know it we'll have a leg lamp in the front window. 

You think I'm kidding.

{family} The Christmas Photo

Is there anything like staging the family holiday card photo??

Getting the kids, the weather, the sun, the foliage, the hair and the attitudes to all cooperate at the same time?  I think all photos should come with an audio clip of what was really going on when those idyllic moments were captured.

Mom is running about the front yard in her sweats, yelling "Happy!  Say Happy!  Look at Mommy!  Say Pickles!  Look at Mommy!  Fidget, sit down!  Look here!  Say Merry Christmas!  Say Pumpernickel!  Look at Mommy!  For the love of all that is holy, my preteen daughter, SMILE.  Fidget, sit DOWN!  Say HAPPY!" 

Dad is right behind her, "Look at Mommy!  Fidget!  Look at Mommy!"  And making silly peekaboo faces at the baby.

The thirteen-year-old is not happy about any of this, crossing her fingers that none of her friends happen to see what we are doing in the front yard.  The three-year-old needs a nap and thinks this should be an action shot.  The baby can't make sense of any of it and happens to look really grumpy in every take.

I think we took 150 photos and we got one that works.  Then I had to restage it the next day in the same spot with the baby so we could photoshop a happy face onto her grumpy one.  I'm just going to go ahead and admit that here.  We are photoshopping the Christmas Card.  The holiday craziness is here in full force.  And to think, it's not even December yet.

Happy Monday.

hello there, pumpkin

I hosted bookclub monday night.  We had read The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani.  (Wonderful book that I probably would not have otherwise picked up.  It's engaging historical fiction set in Iran in the 1700s.  Reminded us all a bit of The Red Tent.)

Our bookclub is small enough that hosts serve a full meal.  I made Rachel's Pasta Carbonara (Rach, I use this all this time, thank you!), a green salad with  "olive garden" dressing, some toasted garlic bread, and pumpkin cake for dessert. 

I used this recipe, but decreased the sugar to 1/2 cup and used a whole can of pumpkin. I also threw in some more cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg, and 1/2 tsp cloves, baked it in a bundt pan baked for 45 minutes.  The frosting is a mix of cream cheese (about 2oz), 1/2 stick butter, milk and powdered sugar.  Oh my, this was good.

And, by golly, he seems to know it. 

(I didn't notice the face on this cake until after I took this photo.  And now I can't stop staring at it!  I can't decide whether to laugh or be creeped out.  ha.

The Olivia Baby Quilt

I tell you what, my friends sure are keeping me busy making baby gifts these days.  Not that I'm complaining; I'm getting my fair share of snuggles and baby breath.  Is there anything that compares to that?  Because I really don't think so.

This quilt was made for Olivia Christine, born on October 27.  She is delicate and coo-ey and has the most beautiful full lips -- just like her mama. 

In general, vintage sheets are so pretty that I don't like to cut them up very much.  Bands of color are just fine by me.  It also makes them easy to personalize with embroidery.

I usually mix a band of a new fabric in with all the older sheeting, mostly to stretch my vintage stash and also to break things up a bit.  But this front and back are made completely from the vintage goods and are ever so soft.   { I used a new cotton print for the binding, which I do prefer for its strength.  Sometimes those timeworn lovelies are prone to tearing. }

I hope sweet Miss Olivia enjoys her blanket and her mama lets her use it and spit up on it and everything else that goes along with babies.  This one was made with love and should stand the test of time. And if it does need repair, I'm pretty sure they'll know who to call.  ;)

Hopefully, before too long, I'll have nursery room pics to share.  I'm kind of loving how it's turning out.