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One of these days, I'll be back or at least in here every now and then. I did start posting a bit on Tumblr. My intention is to use it as a place to post photos or links to things that inspire me or are just on my mind, so you can check that out if you're interested.

I Just Found The Cutest Thing

I wish I had found them before the Little Man was born. Month stickers for onesies. They are transparent, so they look like they are on the shirt...CUTE!

image from pickysticky etsy shop

I have a friend who is due in a few weeks. Perhaps I'll get them for her, since its a bit late for me at least this time around. Is it weird to buy this now for a future baby??

They also have belly stickers for pregnant moms.

{few things I never get around to posting}

Really like this doily table runner idea here.

Discovered that I really want to make a pair of baby booties like these (see white on white!)

Intrigued by the idea of making something like this, if only for the excuse to make something.

Want this somewhere in my house, but can't really justify the price to myself.

Would like to put this in the downstairs bathroom, but again with the pesky high price.

Okay, I think that's it for now. I'm waaaaaaaaay behind on everything single thing just now, so this will have to do.

Out!

Another Apron

I only made one gift for Christmas. It was for my sister-in-law, since I didn't make one for her back when I made all the other aprons several years ago.


I had a heck of a time with the monogramming. The thread kept breaking on me and I couldn't figure out why. Perhaps it was just the thread, but it was making me very angry. I suppose that's why I don't use the machine more often. I always seem to be having some problem or another with using it.

But I do like the apron and the potholders were quick and easy. I didn't bother to hand stitch the binding on this time. I don't know why I did it before, other than it seems like the proper way to go. But these are not quilts, so I don't think its necessary. And sewing heavy-weight fabric like that is hard on your fingers!

New Garage Door

So here it is. Our new garage door. We ordered this waaaaay back in October and it didn't get installed until the end of the year. I guess we weren't the only ones wanting new garage doors.

I do like it, though. Its much quieter than the old door and looks better. The old door was wooden and had many coats of paint on it and someone very sloppily painted the trim. We got a little bit wider trim to cover that up. It should give us better insulation as well. Yay!

And More Animals

I've been hard at work making more animals. I may be slightly obsessed. The Little Man isn't too terribly interested in stuffed animals right now, but perhaps he'll like them better later. I'm enjoying myself, anyway.

I like the giraffe best, so far. Isn't he cute?

The monkey is cute too, although his face didn't quite turn out the way I wanted.
The giraffe and monkey patterns were from Roxycraft.

Turtle is quick and easy.

And the oversize duckling is meant to be felted, but I didn't bother.

Busy, Busy

Things are hopping around here right now! Wahoo! We finally got someone in here to rebuild our basement bathroom. Yes, that was April that I mentioned it. It took us up until about 2 weeks ago to get anywhere on it. I'll show ya that later. Its not finished yet.

We also have a new garage door coming on Monday. We ordered that over 2 months ago and what should have been 2 weeks turned into 10ish? Apparently we weren't the only ones looking for a new door right now. Figures!

BUT . . . I did find a bit of time to be crafty lately. I have been working on the little crochet animals in the evenings, but I managed to make a quilt top. Yay! It was super easy and came together quickly. Wonder how long it will take me to get it quilted??


It is my version of a quilt that is included in the Amy Butler software. I didn't quite get the colors I was going for, but it will do. I would have liked the gray a bit darker and the yellow a little more subtle. Oh well. I guess that's what happens when you buy fabrics online.

I do like it, though. It is intended for the Little Man. If I ever do finish it. Wish me luck!

Jellycat Plush

I found these stuffed animals from Jellycat awhile ago and contemplated getting something for the Little Man. Aren't they cute? These are the bashful animals.

I find myself torn between wanting to buy him everything and wanting my house less cluttered. What?! Those don't go together?? It is Christmas, though...

KitchenAid Pasta Press

photos from Williams Sonoma

Did you happen to see this KitchenAid Pasta Press on Martha? I soo need one. Or maybe not at that price. But I want one. It looked so easy and the packaging they did for the pasta was cute.

More Amigurumi

I worked on more of these little animals over Thanksgiving and I finished several little ones.

The bear needs a bow or something, doesn't he?

This is Dutch in amigurumi form. Sorta.

The penguin is my favorite. He's silly looking, but cute.

I really need to hurry up if I'm going to get any more made for Christmas, don't I? I've gotten sidetracked with other things just lately. I'll hopefully get around to showing you what those things are soon!

Outdoor Lights

I know this will be super-fascinating, but I was excited that we finally bought outdoor lights. The old ones needed to be replaced badly, but I was looking for something in brushed nickel that I liked and never did find anything, at least in my price range. So I finally gave up and we bought these instead. We've ordered a new garage door and I figure that they will match any hardware that we put on that. So yay! One small thing checked off my list.

Before

After - does anyone else think it seems weird to have a single light up there like that?
I'd rather put up one on each side, but oh well. There are house numbers underneath it,
so that helps a little, but still. It feels a little strange to me.

Front porch before - chipped paint on the railing and all!

After - whoops! Forgot to take an after for the front door and a before for the side. Whatever. They're the same light. I finally got The Man to finish painting the railings for me.
Looks much better.

After - side door light.

There's so much more to be done, but those old lights were really bugging me! One thing at a time........

Amigurumi Elephant

Have you ever tried amigurumi? I've thought about it, but I always assumed it would be more complicated than it looks or would be too time-consuming. I decided to give it a go the other night, and make some little animals for the Little Man.


It wasn't hard at all. The hardest part is sewing all those little pieces on. That hurt my fingers, but I didn't have the right needle and it was a giant pain in the butt trying to get it threaded with the yarn.


Isn't this little elephant adorable? I hope he likes him! Now I have to decide whether or not to save him for Christmas... I realize the Little Man won't remember either way, but I should give him something for Christmas, don't you think?


I'm envisioning a little galvanized bucket filled with amigurumi animals, handmade by his Mama for his first Christmas. Perhaps I will do that. Now I need to make a run to grab some more appropriate colored yarn for these animals. I actually picked the elephant because I had gray on hand.

Patterns are from Lion Brand....elephant here and lots more here.

Measuring Spoons

I saw these Measuring spoons from Anthropologie as a Christmas gift idea in the December issue of Country Living, I believe. I think perhaps I need these!

{Behind}

Is it sad that I've discovered some cute pictures of the Little Man that I don't remember taking?? I'm running about a month behind in editing my pictures and I found some last night that I'd forgotten about. Ack. That's what I get for taking so many, huh?

I guess I'll get to them all eventually . . . Too many is better than too few!

Child's Bookshelf

I have been going through my Cottage Living magazines recently, looking for something that I think I remember seeing in there and not finding it. I am starting to think perhaps that it is in another magazine. Ugh. This is going to take me awhile to find, I'm afraid. In the meantime, I've been copying recipes and other things that catch my eye, since I have a terrible habit of putting down magazines and forgetting altogether the things in them that I liked.

Anyway. I found this in one of the issues. Unfortunately, I've already forgotten which one, and I'm not going to look it up to find out but I scanned it in to save it for when we start putting together the Little Man's room.

The Little Man is currently set up in my office and as much as I like that, I think its a bad idea. At least for long-term. I am not getting as much work done as I would like and I think after the beginning of the year, he's going to move into the spare room so I can get some work done while he's asleep.

I think this is simple enough that perhaps I can persuade The Man to replicate for me. I like the idea of having a little bookshelf that the Little Man can reach. We'll have to see - its a little room!

Single Serving Pie in a Jar

What a cute idea! I am now craving little strawberry rhubarb pies with a crumb topping.

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

I just finished watching the first season of HBO's "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. Its based on a series of books by Alexander McCall Smith. I discovered his books a couple years ago and have read them all as they've come out (there are several ongoing series) and have enjoyed them. They're light and funny.

It was interesting to see the book as a show and The Man and I both enjoyed it. It was taped entirely on location in Botswana and the scenery is beautiful and even the credits and colors of the whole thing were bright and beautiful. I'm not sure what I expected Botswana to look like, but it was interesting to see the actual place after having read the books.


Check it out. Its available from Netflix. You should really also check out his books as well. Our library has most of them available as e-audiobooks, so I imagine that other libraries do as well.

A Long Walk in the Woods

A couple weeks ago, my husband and I decided to take a short little trip that was supposed to be a nice hike through a wetlands area and end up at a waterfall. It was something that we had read about in Pursuits magazine (a magazine about Pennsylvania designed to get you to visit PA) and since it was near the outlets in Grove City as well, we thought we'd go up, take a nice walk, take some pictures and hit the outlets before heading home.

I'm not sure what's wrong with us, but we didn't read the article as closely as we should have, apparently. We knew it was about 3 miles back to the falls, but it seemed to take forever and for some reason, I was thinking a 3 mile loop. The wetlands, while interesting, were not an hour's worth of interesting. We saw lots of redwinged blackbirds and one crane.


The Little Man behaved wonderfully. He doesn't mind just looking around at everything usually. Dutch gave up after awhile and insisted on being carried. We walked and walked and wondered where in the world the waterfall was. Finally, we came to the main road. Where was the waterfall? Did we miss it?


I got a little bit of cell reception, so I called Mom & Dad and asked them to read the article to me again. Turns out it was just down the main road a little ways and behind an antique shop. The walk through the wetlands was completely unnecessary and most definitely not a loop. We had, however, parked our car back at the other end of this loooooong trail and it was getting dark, so we turned around and made the hour long walk back to the car.

By then, of course, it was time to feed the Little Man again so we gave up on the waterfall altogether. I was tired of walking and lugging around the camera and the dog and The Man had carried the Little Man the whole way. We were both starving. So we popped in to the outlets long enough to look at Carters and decide that the clothes were entirely too expensive for such a little person and we got fast food for dinner.


Moral of the story is read the entire article closely. Next time, at least, we know where the dumb waterfall is and we won't have to walk through the boring wetlands to get to it. At least the weather was nice and the trail was pretty.

Decoys

Occasionally, we have some visitors to our backyard that I like to snap pics of and send to my Dad, because they get lots of turkeys at their house and he enjoys them. I like to remind him that we even get them in the big city. Dad always teases that mine are just decoys.


So these are my decoys wandering around the back yard and finding things to eat. I don't mind these visitors. They don't eat my flowers like the other visitors tend to.

Oh, Good Grief.

I need these.

image from Victoria Trading Company

spotted at Bakerella