Nesting In The 21st Century

Bug A Boo Two

This is the latest addition to the gifts for my new nephew.  For this burp cloth I used the same little applique from the quilt from earlier.  I would like to make a few more perhaps with bees and butterflies.  The other motif on the quilt is a flower which looks good on the quilt but would be too girlie on a burp cloth.  I am thinking that a set of three would be perfect.  I machine appliqued it so I think it will be plenty durable in the wash.

It is all coming together quite well.  I will be sure and take some photos before I give it to him.  They haven't decided on a name yet and so I'll save the monograms for later.  (I love to do a baby's initials or monogram for a gift.)  I really enjoy doing layette projects.  There is something so wonderful about making things for a new little person. 

Only a couple of weeks to go and I can finally meet the little guy.  My sister is not so romantic about the whole thing...but of course she is the one nine months pregnant.  She is excited but not in the ga ga way I seem to be.  But of course I am.  I am the Auntie.

Gift Wrapping

This is my favorite inspirational site for gift wrapping, Carolyne Rohem.  If you haven't read her book Presentations you are missing something.  What inspiration!!  She even has a Gift Wrapping Journal to download and print as well as tutorials on How to wrap a gift and How to tie a bow.  Neat.

This has been the month of swaps and this is the Coloriffic Rainbow package that I recieved.  What fun!  Lots of little goodies and treats.  The kids had as much fun as I did opening it. 

You can see more of the wonderful packages floating around the world here.  Such creativity.  I it is really inspiring to go and look at the wonderful packaging.  I like this Flickr group for inspiration as well.

Alicia did some wonderful packages last year.  I love, love, love her idea of choosing one paper and doin' all the packages the same way.  I also love the color scheme she used.  Aqua and red.  Ohhhh...did I tell you I joined another swap?  Yep. Aqua and red.

Fabric!

I was so excited to find this adorable light blue baby toile flannel.  I haven't seen a storybook themed toile before and this one is so cute.  I am going to make the little nipper a blanket to go with his new little blue sweater and hat.  I am thinking that it would be nice to do a scalloped border.  The checks are for the back and the binding.  I have to hurry to finish all this up....only about 6 weeks left.

Off to cut and start sewing. 

Bugs!

My sister has decided to decorate the nursery with a bug theme.  I used the same theme for my little guy.  It originally was from Eddie Bauer.  The pattern is on a light blue background with the cutest little bugs all over it.  We have a comforter, sheets and bedskirt in that pattern.  I also have red and white gingham checked sheets from the Pottery Barn Kids catalog which I will send her way.  She has painted the walls a wonderful slate blue color in the nursery.

I am going to give the little nipper this quilt and diaper bag I made.  I think the orange will be a nice contrast to the blue.  The ladybugs are machine appliqued as are the flowers.  The antennae are hand stitched.  The orange ladybug fabric which is the main fabric of the diaper bag is the backing of the quilt.  I think that if she didn't want to use the bag for a diaper bag she could use it for toys or books or whatever.  It is quite large so will make a good all around tote.  She might even want to use if for library books for the older kids if she didn't want to use it for the baby.

I think the pattern will be fun for him to look at when he is doing tummy-time.  Lots of intense color and bold shapes.  It is so fun to make these things for him.  Being the third I don't want him to miss out...after all we have done all the fun things for the first 6....four of mine and two of my sisters.  With four boys arriving before him, the new little guy he will be seeing a lot of hand-me-downs.  This Auntie is on a mission to make sure he has some beautiful made-just-for-you kinds of things.  And in this case...lots of bug-a-boo types of things.  6 weeks left and still lots to do!  Did I mention that being an Auntie is the greatest?

Odds and Ends

I had some questions about where I got things so here are the answers.  The red glass from the White Sangria post was from Crate & Barrel about 15 years ago.  Sorry it isn't more current information.

Here is the link for the knitting pattern for the baby cardigan.  The hat pattern I purchased from Purl.  The yarn is Cascade 220 again from Purl.

On the wonderful Kiddley blog yesterday there was a terrific link to the Kids Craft Weekly newsletter.  Each week is a new theme (this week is is pirates and next week is Ladybugs!)  I love the idea of lots of projects on a single theme.  It sure would make it easy to plan a themed birthday party.  I like also that there are little articles in the newsletter about imagination and play.  Such a great link.

I'm Done (Almost)

Yesterday was bliss.  Yes, out and out delight all day long.  I began work on the blue sweater for my nephew to be.  It is so satisfying to knit for a newborn.  I made a cardigan and little hat.  I just adore the little hat.  It will go on his little baby head.  There is nothing like snuggling a newborn baby...I can't wait for the little nipper to arrive...in 8 weeks or so.  Once the knits are done I am going to make him a quilt.  I haven't decided on the fabrics because my sister hasn't decided on what the nursery will be yet and I would like to match it somehow.  I may do a throw in blue and brown that she can take when she is out and about.  I would love to find a blue and brown toile.  I have lots of Auntie-in-waiting energy so that will keep me busy until she decides what she wants to do.

I used to knit quite a bit "back in the day" but haven't for quite some time.  I think the last time was when my daughter was a toddler and I knit a few sweaters and matching hats for her.  I am not sure why I stopped.  I suppose I moved on to other activities.  I think that is when I started sewing quite a bit.  Nowadays I switch activities project to project and usually have more than one thing going on at the same time.  Clearly right now the focus is on the layette for the new baby.  Although I have some cute back to school projects simmering as well...more on those later in the month.

I have been needing a day to work on projects for quite some time.  The kids went to the pool and I just sat and knit.  It was so nice to actually finish something.  My life is so filled with activities which are never really done.  Like dishes and cleaning and raising kids...you get the idea.  No finish line, no high five , just more of the same sooner or later.  I think that having a sense of accomplishment is one reason I take on so many projects.  It is so satisfying to say  "I am done!"  Many other facets of my life run in circles so it is neat to have completion.  Funnily enough this sweater is not quite done.  I have to sew on the polka dot ribbon to tie it shut and then I will have that moment of satisfaction and then quickly move on to the next project. 

I ordered my yarn from Purl Soho.  They have re-done their site to include Fabric (including my favorite Denyse Schmidt, Amy Butler and Kaffe Fassett) , quilting and sewing patterns and even the wonderful Wee Wonderfuls pattern.  (Although I purchased mine from the source.)  They have added a Blog also and it will be fun to see what they do with that. 

Mailbox Heaven

My mailbox has been bursting with lots of wonderful goodies from friends old and new.  First off came a package of fabric from Carrie.  She was generous enough to send me (and many more of her blog readers) stacks of fabric.  The colors couldn't have been more perfect.  I haven't decided what to do with it quite yet but as every other project I do these days seems to have pink in it I won't have to wait long to use it.

Happy, happy fabric!  There is even a pink toile tucked in there...I just couldn't be happier.  Thanks for your kindness Carrie.

The next box was from Kim and the Just A Kid swap.  For a "not a swap kind of girl"  I am doin' lots of these things.  What fun to open the cute green box filled with lots of kid fun. I loved the chocolate (luckily this arrived before the massive heat wave.)  The very best part was the handkerchief with blue tulips on it.  That couldn't have been more perfect!.   I adore kinder eggs and there were three in the box also.  They are gone now believe me.

Finally came a lovely set of tiles from Debra.  They are so beautifully made.  There was also a handmade card (my favorite kind) and a cute little magnet.  I do feel quite spoiled!

I have been madly getting things ready to send out also...it is not all incoming.  Orders to fill, Club Little House to send on its merry way to Amy and the Coloriffic and Just A Kid Swap.  This has been a great way to keep myself from really  cleaning this house.  The dust bunnies are threatening to take over so I need to spend this week getting this place habitable. 

Time To Fess Up

It is time to fess up. These little mosaic fruits have been sitting around waiting to be grouted for a YEAR.  It will take me no more than 15 minutes to do it and yet I have not.  Quite frankly it took longer to photograph and upload the photos than it would have taken to finish the darn things. 

All of this is especially ludicrous seeing as they took me way longer than I expected to mosaic in the first place.  I have lots of time invested and they are useless the way they are.  I had visions of a bowl of mosaic fruit but they took so darn long I reconsidered that idea.  Perhaps I am not finishing them because I am not sure what to do with them now that the bowl o' fruit idea is kaput.  It is a waste to not finish them though.

My husband would call this my irrational side.  I guess I agree.  I just can't seem to finish.  There must be some weird psychological reason why I don't.  Either that or it is just a crafters tick.  Is there such a thing?  A little idiosyncrasy which prevents us to now and again just abandon an almost finished project. 

I have put them on my work table to remind me to get them done.   So there it is, my very embarrassing Work In Progress.  Hopefully next Friday I will post the photo of the completed fruit. 

You Have Got To Be Kidding

These are the materials I have assembled for a sweater from my nephew-to-be.  He is due to arrive in September and I am making a little package for him a la Wee Wonderfuls .  I was going to make the same sweater but decided that this little cardigan would do just fine.  I decided on a chocolate brown sweater with light blue and brown striped ribbon for the ties.  Then I would make a light Blue hat with  brown trim to match.  A little critter from the cutest pattern again from Wee Wonderfuls will round out the package along with other goodies.

Well, I ordered everything from Purl Soho.  It arrived and I was delighted.  I wrapped the yarn into balls and started casting on.  It wasn't until I had cast on about 10 stitches when I suddenly realized that the yarn wasn't chocolate brown...it was a dark green.  Yikes.  I couldn't return the yarn having just wound it into balls.  So...I just kept going.  I couldn't believe that it was the wrong color...but it was.  A few rows into the project I came up with the solution.  I would make the dark green one and incorporate orange into the design somehow.  I'll try to find some ribbon which has a deep green and orange for the ties.  And I will make a hat with those colors as well.  A rather odd combination but I think if I do it right it will look kind of cool. 

I am not giving up on the chocolate brown and light blue combination.  I have picked everything out for that.  I think I'll give that box before he is born and do everything in the blue and brown smaller and the dark olive/orange combination is for when he is born and I'll make everything a bit bigger. 

I had to laugh at myself though. I knew exactly what I wanted and then didn't look closely enough at the color Yakima Heather.  I do think I'll get the Burnt Orange for the shade of orange...I don't think I can go too wrong with that...or can I?

Pink Toile Bird

I really love this little block.  I found it at a garage sale years ago and fell in love with the design and the pink it was stitched in.  Yesterday I added the pink border and pink toile outer border.  The pink toile in the outer border is my favorite of all time.  Unfortunately I didn't buy nearly enough...although I am not sure what enough would have been of this perfect pink bird toile.  I am always hopeful that I will stumble on to some of this wonderful fabric somewhere.

I am going to make this into a pillow and finish it this week.  I have a bamboo chair just waiting for it to sit on.  I haven't decided how to finish it.  I have some pink and green piping but I think I might want to keep this all white and pink.  Hmmmm.

It wasn't as hot today, thank goodness, so I got more done than I have for the past week combined it seems.  The heat really takes the motivation out of me.  Even though it was cool inside every time I ventured out, even for a moment, I was done for the rest of the day.  Thank goodness it has cooled off...I have things to do and places to go.