part of a wedding gift.

(just the potholders - not my random kitchen items!)

(people used to get quilts, before i had 2 children)

yet another baby gift...

found tie onesie tutorial on "crap i've made" blog, and altered it a bit.

april 2011: another baby gift (is there a theme here?)

-"quick-change trousers" from anna maria horner's handmade beginnings book.

these are awesomely reversible!

-burp cloth

-knitted cap: roll brim up for infant size, down for toddler size!

A little "church bag" (made with my serger's help)for some quiet entertainment. =)

i made the notebooks using scrapbook paper for the covers, and plain computer paper for the pages, then sewed them down the middle (got the idea from the blog "angry chicken").

A bib for a cousin's daughter....using up amy butler fabrics!

June 2011:

Blanket for a new nephew!

pattern adapted from "posh tot" pattern.

A baby blanket...featuring a sweet owl print found at jo'ann's.

Brown flannel on the front, tan flannel on the back,

and a layer of flannel in between for a little warmth.

oh, and a cute knitted cap. anything yellow + grey = love it.

a new quilt + springtime

well, here it is. a very special quilt for herman

that has been in the (planning) works for about 5 years now.

can you guess the special occasion?

(see picture below for a clue)

a shot of the full wuilt - not the best picture, i admit. but there it is.

random: love these colors and shapes.
the tulips are from my bridesmaids bouquet last weekend.
this view makes doing dishes that much more enjoyable.

projects (& bet you thought you'd never hear from me again)

well, i'm back, after a 3-month-plus hiatus.

hey, a lot's been happening since nov. 29:

christmas, 3 family b'days (the big 3-0 for h & i), and a wedding.

who has time to blog when such fun stuff is a-goin' on?

however, i have been knitting and crocheting during these hibernation months....

-a blanket i promised to riley long ago, since he wanted one like spencer's,

"but with my favorite colors - orange, and red, and orange, and red, and yellow"

my much-beloved fingerless gloves. much-beloved, even though

my aunt calls me "little orphan annie" when i wear them.

hey, they're practical when you have little shoes to tie and pants to unbutton.

love this scarf- especially the green against this coat.

modeled with pride standing on twin peaks overlooking beautiful s.f.


more scarves. not so sure about the red one,
though the ends are tapered and have fun poms-poms.

brotherly love....

...is a sweet thing to behold.

however, don't be decieved; these pictures represent the good moments.

more often than not, one of them is being unkind to the other (whoever said children were innocent little creatures??).

you can see the usual beginnings of mischief in the look on riley's face in that last photo.

from this day forward...

...two of our long-time friends got married recently.
(i won't mention names because i don't have thier permission to post this.

so we'll just keep it generic.)

top shot: bridesmaids (i had the honor of being one) carried pink bouquets complete with sparkling silver birds. love it.

bottom shot: bride's bouquet, dress, & ring. did you notice the rhinestones in the center of the gerber daisies? a friend of mine (one of the other bridesmaids) did the flowers. she also did the flowers for my wedding.

pumpkin patch

yeah, i know, we did this a month ago.

that's how big a priority this blog is.

spencer couldn't get enough of the chickens.

incidentally, the word he is "working on" now is bird.

or as he says in a bambi-esque way, "bur".

i think it's officially his first word.

hauling pumpkins - no, boys. open you eyes, spence.

fun in the corn pit.

spence checking out the livestock. (note the adorable

vintage health-tex overalls my mom scored at a garage sale. riles wore them too)

the fruits of our labor. lovely.

alterations

would you ever have thought

that this shirt had a former life?

and as a clearance bargain in the kmart plus-size

department, no less.

i got a new blouse with scraps left over, to boot.

SEPTEMBER CRAFTING

...was all birthday related. finally got around to making a birthday pennant of fabric, something that's been on "the list" for a long time.

no, i did not make the fun bowling pin set.

someone working for a toy company in france did.

the birthday crown i labored over which the birthday boy decided not to wear.

i saw this idea at babies-r-us, but of course the bib did not feature kaffe fassett fabric,

so i had to take matters into my own hands.

fun fabric ball.

he's 1!

not so sure.....

...very sure.

no, this isn't spence. this is mr. riles on his first b'day. that mower was one of his gifts.

below, spencer enjoys the same mower and the same outfit. kinda nice having 2 boys in a row!

SOME CRAFTING

there has also been time for some crafting over the summer. above is the "barcelona skirt", an amy butler pattern. i really liked sewing it; it has a fun layered/raw edge detail which is not really evident in this pic.
this is the "thrifty knitted creature" from the thrifty knitter blog (also on ravelry).

herman looked at this and said something like "you spent time on that? seems kind of pointless." in a very nice way. but isn't that the point of something like this? i thought so, anyway.

JUNK --> TREASURE

found on someone's driveway in the "salvation army" pile post-garage-sale.

it's ok to take that stuff, right?

transformed with the help of: murphy's oil soap, orange glo, steel wool, and kaffe.

WET

last week, we got wet at the beach. so excited to go, because it had almost been a year.

also, we've gotten wet a few times at a local river park...one of our new favorite places to be.

ABOUT FOOD (MOSTLY)

A trip to the library yielded this book about cherries

growing on a tree eventually ending up in a pie...

after we read it riley said, "we should make a cherry pie" .

...so we did. my first, and i think it turned out pretty good, if i do say so myself.

also, we decided cherry pie is better w/o ice cream, unlike apple pie.

below: technicolor breakfast.

unrelated: guess who likes my ipod.