Christmas List

Wowzers!  Less than 1 month until Christmas.  As usual, I love shopping for Christmas presents early but I also have major commitment issues.  I have trouble buying gifts for people because I always wonder if I'll think up a better idea later and then have to return the first gift.  The sad thing is that I do sometimes return the first gift.
In case you happen to want to buy a gift for me, which you probably don't and I'm totally ok with that, here are some things that I want.

• Man slippers.  No fluffy, pink little bits of nuthin for me.  Man slippers are so much nicer than anything you can find in the women's department.  I always steal Aaron's pair and I think it is time to get my own.  I don't really care about brands or colors.  I just need something comfy and durable like these from Target. 
  
• I want a magazine.  Maybe World, Time, or Martha Stewarts' food magazine.  I have a love/hate relationship with magazines.  I hate how they always get cluttered everywhere with pages torn out of them but I love the idea of getting something fun in the mail at least once a month.  
• I also want a new pair of boots but I guess that I'd better just pick them out myself so I can find some that are comfortable for me.  
• I want a new bathing suit for our upcoming tropical adventures...uh, I think I'd better just buy that for myself.  After about the age of 12, it is better just to buy one's own bathing suits after an intense period of trying on everything in the store.  Just saying.  
• I always accept offerings of dark chocolate, coffee, and black teas such as English and Irish breakfast teas.  I hardly ever buy myself chocolate (maybe just once a year) but I sure love getting nice quality dark chocolate.  Christmas is my time to stock pile.  I also enjoy other offerings of interesting or gourmet foods.  

Well folks that's about it.  I'm a pretty content girl over here.  If my child ever wakes up, I'll dash out to do my Thanksgiving Day shopping before the stores get too overcrowded.  Be sure and leave a comment letting me know what is that one present that you really want for Christmas.  

15 Months With Lil' Squishy

It is hard to believe that my once-upon-a-time baby is growing up so fast.  She is getting somewhat smart and somewhat needy.  With new skills and intelligence comes greater potential for disobedience.

This is her first 18 month outfit!  I absolutely love it.  I think I found both pieces at a thrift store but they are both pretty good brands in great condition.  Nothing beats a lumberjack shirt with skinny jeans.  I want one. 

One of her favorite games is to put clothes pins into a salad dressing container.  She loves it and can play with it for a good 15-20 minutes straight some days. 

Daddy has been teaching her how to "play" the piano.  Basically it just means that he won't let her bang but encourages her to play with just one finger at a time.  

The other morning she was wearing this super cute sweater and would smile at me with every bite of breakfast that she took.  She was so cute I tried to capture it but failed at least in some part. 

This is her current favorite book.  It has a lot of animals specifically dogs and "me's" which is her name for cats.  

She is definitely communicating more and more.  She is pretty good at letting us know what she wants which is interesting because she used to only want what was right in front of her.  Now is she wants things that aren't necessarily even in the room.  The other day she was really grumpy while clutching her toys in the bath tub.  I asked her what was wrong and she immediately stopped fussing and started babbling with a serious look on her face.  When she realized I didn't have a clue what she was talking about, she started fussing all over again. 

She has also finally learned how to push herself to seated.  This is great except it can make things more complicated at night.  One night, Aaron found her attempting to sleep while sitting up in the corner of her bed.  She does know how to lay back down but I think that sometimes she just forgets what she is supposed to do especially in the middle of the night. 

So Happy Together

Not only did my Great-Grandmother's hand-sewn quilt get bound, it is now officially hanging in our room!  I love it so much!  It makes the room look completely different and sometimes when I wake in the morning, I spend a few minutes looking at the details and thinking about how beautiful it is.

It turned out to be a lot easier to bind than I thought it would be!  As a side note, we should probably get more pillows to put on our bed.  

Owl Always Think You're Cute

If you read my blog at all, you probably figured out that I've been busy sewing lots of clothes my baby...I mean my toddler.  Lets face it, she is no longer a baby.  The best things about sewing for her is that you can use lots of elastic, little amounts of fabric and they come together really quick.  She also isn't picky about what she wears.  

A couple of weeks ago, I saw this picture on my sister's pinterest. I don't have a link since it is from etsy and appears to be sold out.   

I thought the idea looked easy enough especially know that I know how to make peasant dresses.  

I grabbed the peasant dress pattern from bloomsnbugs and got started.  It took me a little while to figure out what I wanted to applique but I finally found this pattern and knew it would be perfect for fall.  

Get the pattern right here. 

The pictures were made possible by Aaron who found my camera charger, Sara who made the hat, and my child who was mostly uncooperative.  

Yes, I know the shoes and socks are weird with this outfit but they are the only shoes that fit her.  Hopefully, we will find a pair of winter boots for her soon! 

I Say Yes To This Dress

Lately, I've been inspired to sew for the wee child.  She has recently acquired one new dress and a skirt with a onesie that has been made to match.  First, here is the story behind the dress.
About two weeks before Caleb's wedding, I realized that my child did not have even one fall/winter dress.  All of her dress were really bright prints and were all getting too small.  I was given a cute dress by a friend that her daughter had outgrown.  I liked it but it was really more of a Christmas dress as it was really long, velvet, and maroon.  It was also just a smidge large for her.  I also picked up a cute little dress at T.J. Maxx with a gift card I had but it was a little on the informal side of things.  So I did some basic research on the internet and came across this:

There are lots of "peasant" dresses for sale on etsy and tons pinned on pinterest.  Since it looked fairly simple, I plunged ahead.  I ended up using this pattern and tutorial. The sleeves didn't seem to quite match up with the neck but that problem was easy to fix.  After a couple days of work (it could have gone much quicker if I did not have a child and had not made a few simple mistakes), here is what I came up with.  All of the pictures are a bit blurry since they were taken on my phone. 

She may be uncooperative, but she is sure cute. 

 I decided that the dress needed a belt to pull it all together.

And of course she needed a matching leaf hair clip.  I think this would have looked a lot cuter if I had put it on a headband, but my child simply does not tolerate headbands.  

This sort of dress is super easy to sew as it is so forgiving especially as there are no zippers or buttons. 

Hello, World!

Remember me?  I used to blog, sometimes.  Now I blog...well, about once a season.  I think the biggest reason is that I don't have much to say and when I want to write a post, I can't take any pictures since my charger is still lost.  If that charger doesn't show up before Christmas, I'm going to go out and try to buy a new one.  Sometimes a person just needs pictures in her life.
Life is good here.  Very simple though.  I've spent this week obsessively working on my quilt.

The edges are officially bound! 

I even made my own scrappy bias tape! Unfortunately, I think it was made for a full sized bed and we have a queen.  I'm thinking of doing something like this with it especially since we still don't have a headboard after over 2 years of marriage.  

It has finally warmed up here.  We had a couple weeks of cool temperatures but today's high is around 70.  We love it though it does make me nervous cause we seem to have very severe weather after a warm spell like this.  I took this picture yesterday when out for our walk.  For some reason, right before I took this picture, all I could think of was how she looked very Whearish.  This picture doesn't capture the family features that I noticed but she looked strangely like Jubilee or Ella to me.  My sister Sara made this hat for her.   

Autumn

It is officially fall here.  Today I'm working on drying basil and making pesto before all the basil is destroyed in our first frost, picking all the green peppers, sewing a baby skirt, unpacking winter clothes and of course drinking tea while reading a book.  Unfortunately, I realized just after I started to make the pesto that the only nuts I have are peanuts.  I don't want to be murdered by any Italians who might happen to try my pesto so I'm going to go try to pick up some walnuts or almonds.
My brother got married this past weekend and the last 3 days have been quite busy for us.  We've had meals out with family, guests at the house, freezing cold outdoor receptions, etc.  My poor child is plumb wore out.  I'm pretty sure that she has spent more time napping today than actually being awake.  Hopefully, we can dash out for the missing ingredient when she wakes up.
My exciting news for the month consists of the fact that I made Kira a dress for the wedding.  About two weeks before the wedding, I realized that she did not have a single fall/winter dress and that all of her super summery dresses were getting to be too short.  I looked up some tutorials online and whipped up a fairly quick dress.  I have pictures on my phone but I need to figure out how to get them to transfer over to the computer.
I wish I could think of more exciting things to write about but I guess you're stuck with this simple post cause I hear my child finally waking up.