a dear friend of mine decided last week to spend some time on me and used her lovely talents to make me a miniatures box of sweet things. she sent me a mini fairy painting (she makes great fairies):

a mini elven shoe (connor declared "that is not an elf shoe mom, elves are huge.) He's such a Tolkien purist.... (he probably doesn't know who Tolkien is truthfully)

also a mini teacup and saucer and some super cute animal chocolates that my husband wondered if she made herself and I said, "no of course not! she's not crazy!" and then I looked at them and thought maybe she actually had made them and in that case I feel very bad for not taking a picture of them when I said I would but I was just too busy eating them to go get my camera.

I picked up some batiks last week for my newest project that I want to do (add that to the dozens of projects I want to do but haven't started yet. frightening.) but I won't tell you what it is I'll just show as I go along. I like the fabrics a lot, but I'm going to have to replace the darkest one with something just a little lighter... any suggestions on a great batik store online?

wish me energy, motivation, and a happy baby! (he turns 1 next week!!)

that day, 9 years ago, when my first baby crawled over to the bathroom door and started crying because it was shut and I was inside; that wasn't entirely surprising.  I had watched 3 sisters do that to my mom and I really didn't have much of a problem with just leaving the bathroom door open. So I did, and everyone was happy.

the fact that that same baby who is now almost 10 still thinks he can come and knock on the bathroom door and ask me a question or have a full conversation or get me to sign a permission slip when Daddy is just in the other room is beside the point.

the point is, that I am having a bit of a new experience with my newest bathroom door screamer. having the door open is not enough. he has to be on my lap. 

On My Lap. While I Pee. 

and I cannot put him down in order to pull up, zip, and button my pants. not if I don't want him to start screaming bloody murder at me. 

here's the clencher though, and I'm going to need some support on this one. I'm going to need you ladies to come out and say, "I'm here for you Kristen, I've had to do it too."; sometimes he's not happy until not only is he in my lap, but is latched on and having himself a little snack. 

Nursing! NURSING. ON. THE. TOILET. 

I get that I could just let him fuss and cry and scream and I could just watch those huge tears fall down his face and see the bottom lip poke out while I do my business. Except that I cannot. It is like torture. For both of us.  And so, every once in awhile (just a few times, but really, each time I sit there and I think to myself, "really? REALLY?") I find myself in that position.

tell me you have found yourself in it too. 

Con went to his first fencing competition yesterday. (and Laguna Hills is gorgeous! moving there now)

he lost every. single. match. 

and I am so proud of him! so many kids were breaking down and he kept a really good attitude. He was nervous, which made him super-reserved and quiet but he didn't complain and he had a good time, and he learned a lot.  

I love that kid!

so I finished this shirt but I haven't taken a photo yet. was going to wear it to church but it is apparently more of a jeans top... 

in other repurposing news, I got this fabulous cashmere sweater from friend Hannah who accidentally shrunk it a bit and had high hopes for myself but it was just too shrunk for me too. I looked like a stripey sausage:

lots of crafty bloggers have been making pillows from old sweaters but pillows of this sort weren't going to match anything in my place so I thought I would try something I hadn't done in about 8 years - turn a grown up shirt into a baby shirt:

yes, that is a stain on my carpet. no, there were no spots without stains in which to take the photo. deal. 

I accidentally sewed the first sleeve on inside out. hearing my wail, my husband wandered in and asked what was wrong.

"I sewed the sleeve on inside out! how does that even HAPPEN?!" (because, really, i ought to know how to do it by now, don't you think?)

"Looks like a new trend to me. Inside out sleeves."

"Are you suggesting I sew the other sleeve on inside out on purpose?"

"Yep."

"Huh"

And so I did. 

the hat lasted exactly long enough to get a photo. then he threw it on the floor and we've been fighting about it ever since.  he sure likes the sweater though. cashmere tastes - I mean feels - good!

grandma requested some photos of my middle man:

cause he's just too cute.
and he just knows it!

because the kids and I spend so much time in the car, we've become pretty adept at deciphering vanity plates (of which there are many here) and reading bumper stickers and finding Q, X and Z on the route from our home to Dad's work. (Arizona Ave is always our last-ditch Z finder before it's too late). 

the other day we came across an "Expecto Patronum" bumper sticker, which was fun. I think my favorite licence plate lately was INEED2P (I'm not kidding. It was great).  And then two days ago we saw "Honk if you're Stupid".  Which I suppose is a great deterrent for those with road rage.  

So we're at Trader Joes yesterday, trying to find a place to park which is the newest olympic sport, and some guy pulling out of a space honks at some other guy pulling out of a space and my 6 year old, whose window is down.... 

yeah.

"Honk if you're stupid!" 

It's raining again. Perfect day for some crafting.

Craig got me a blank board book for christmas, and I thought I would make one page for each month and add scraps and bits of the projects I had done for that month. I just did the cover today finally (already February, yikes!) and hopefully will get the January page done this weekend. 

I'm feeling kindof "itchy"; like there is something just around the corner, something big. Something exciting. Maybe it's just the New Year excitement still. I love this feeling though. It's such a motivator for me. 

something....

the boys and I went to the beach today. daddy is going to be working saturdays for the next several weeks so we're trying to keep busy. 

it wasn't really warm, but it was warm enough, and the surf was big and exciting.  the baby was very annoyed with me for keeping him from crawling headlong into the sea.

it's almost February! One month down, Christmas is around the corner! 

Here are a couple of shots from this week's photog. assignment that I liked pretty well. This is the first week I've had any success taking photos indoors without the flash. And it's been really fun being able to manipulate the brightness of a photo.

This is why I haven't finished the shirt yet - it had priority 1 status. Craig's co-worker had a baby several weeks ago and I needed to get this done! 

For the blanket I made a square-yard sized log cabin block in 3 1/2 inch strips with blue and orange batiks. (well, okay - really the blue dot is batik - the others are fakers)

I backed it with a super soft furry fabric from JoAnn Fabrics that Britney told me about, and edged it with satin ribbon. (this is one of those "sew it inside out and leave a space to turn it through, then sew up the hole" blankets. it's not quilted) 

the quilt, I did in the "trip around the world" pattern with some fun fabrics (pirate maps, constellations, music), and I sewed ric-rac into the binding for a little extra fun.

the parents are both canadian so I did this for the back:

and machine quilted it with my walking foot. 

phew! done!

Oh. My. Goodness.

Is it just me? It can't be just me. 

So, not walking yet. But he's thinkin' about it. He can clap, which he loves. He can find my nose (if you count him smacking me square in the face when ever I say "where's mommy's nose?" - which, maybe you don't),  and he's becoming pretty determined not to eat baby food any more. He wants the good stuff.
He tried this sippy cup for a good half hour today. Didn't get much out of it. Largely disgusted, he eventually tossed it aside and moved on to other pursuits. 

This Birmingham Sewist is always scouting the runways and searching the patterns for the new trends and cute projects.  I hop on her blog every month or so to get inspired by what she's made lately and to drool over what she's looking at making in the near future. Here are a couple of my recent favorites: (I'd like to say that I'm going to make them, but you all know better, don't you?)

The gray suit is V1169

The red dress is V1162
Now, I have sewn a couple of Vogue dresses. Each time, I wanted to toss the whole thing in the garbage halfway through and tear all of my hair out. It's always lined, and there's hand stitching to be done. But the end product always looks so good. 

I haven't finished the shirt yet. Give me a break. 

So. It looks like the new color for Spring is going to be green. Which, yay! So fresh and crisp and sharp! 

I should be finishing many projects this week - it's supposed to pour for just days and we're all very excited for the rain. 

We're trying hard to be healthy this year. I finally got on the wagon this week (after eating my weight in chocolate). Craig has already lost several pounds and we need to stop eating the candy and junk. This is going hand in hand with lowering our grocery budget *fingers crossed*. I find that I think about food mostly because I'm bored and not because I'm hungry.  So we'll see how I do.  It helps that my oldest son just announced that he wants to jog every day after school please. 

....oooohhkaayy.  One dose 0f motivation for me. 

This photography class is kicking my butt, by the way. But it feels good to make my brain stretch and work hard.  Maybe I'll manage some decent photos this week and put them up. 

I promise nothing. 

I got this shirt-dress at Ann Taylor Loft a couple of months ago. It was on sale, but it was not long enough for me to wear as a dress and too long for a shirt. Lucky me, the self-belt was missing so I got another discount and brought it home to fix up.

First, I cut off about 6 inches from the bottom. I would have cut more, but there are pockets, which I desperately wanted to keep intact. 

Then I cut that 6 inches of fabric into strips in order to make another self-belt for the top. 
and when I finish it tomorrow, I will post photos! :)

I started a 6 week online photography course yesterday (from this lady) and I had to go and get this book just so I could complete the first lesson: 

I'm excited to get going but after a good hour of reading I had to take a break. 

step one: apron
step 2: recipe

step 3: Yum. 
yes the cream cheese frosting is all messy on my pumpkin bars. Did you really think I would actually bother to let it cool first? No. 

Why Gambling is Bad:

oh, sorry. That picture has nothing to do with gambling at all. I just like it. It's been in my files for ever and sadly I cannot give credit where credit is due because I have no idea where I got it. But it's somebody's.  And it's awesome.

Back to Gambling.

While we were in Lake Arrowhead we had a lot of time on our hands and there was a foosball table upstairs. So on Saturday Craig asked if I wanted to play a few games with him and I agreed.  The first game was pretty close and we were getting a bit competitive. 

CRAIG: so, do you want to make this game more interesting?

ME: what did you have in mind?

CRAIG: if I win, you have to iron my shirts every time you do laundry for all of January.

ME: and if I win, I get a girls' night out every weekend?

CRAIG: done!

so, I ironed 9 shirts last night.... 

but did we stop there? No! We did not! After I lost that game, I went on to lose several more games, and bits of my freedom for the first half of 2010.  Some highlights:

I am not allowed to wake him when he is snoring for all of January. (I may have to move to the couch)

I have to get all magazines out of the house by the end of February, (dang it!), and he gets every saturday in Feb (but one, for Fletch's b-day) to do what he wants with.

I have to make lunch for him every day in March.

I have to make an investment plan for us in April (heaven help me, I am not looking forward to that one).

However, all is not lost! February sees my night-owl of a husband waking up with me at 6 every day to do Yoga. (hehe!!)  In March I get a girls' night every weekend; AND he has to complete 3 "honey-do" tasks every. single. day. 

oh yeah.

And in April? I won myself and my mom a quilting retreat. 

May - now this is the good one - In May..... he has to drive the boys to school every morning!

Is it worth it? Well, probably not. Most of those things he would happily let me do, or do for me, just because he is awesome and loving. (I said MOST, mind you).  

Was it fun? Playing for high stakes and moaning in agony when I lost? Heck yeah. 

New Year's weekend saw us taking our first family vacation that was not 1) to see someone in particular or 2) to do something in particular. We went up to Lake Arrowhead to Rest and Relax with the Thomsons and it was SO NICE!! So. Nice. 

Craig talked a lot about moving out of the city and up into the mountains while we were there...

The boys went sledding for the first time, even though there wasn't much snow left on the ground. There was a pretty good patch left over from an old sled run right down the hill from our "chalet". 

We watched tons of movies, and ate tons of junk food (we were all stocking up on junk since we are all determined to get healthier this year).

Van had fun discovering how to climb stairs, and exploring the cabin. The snow? He didn't like so much. 

Merry Christmas!

the boys got homemade capes (and lots of video games)

And Van got these blocks. Van?  Vander...?

of course, he'd rather chew on the flaslight.

We spent Christmas Eve at Olvera Street downtown, and ate at one of the oldest restaurants in Los Angeles.  The boys came home with little guitars, and got to see a great show at the restaurant. There were dancers, a marionette show, and a pinata.

It was very festive and colorful!

We did a Christmas scavenger hunt that Doug whipped up for the kids to do.  Alas, we arrived at the candy cart as they were locking up, so they could not try the cactus candy. Many little hearts were broken (until pinata time, that is).  

haha. "i'll be posting much more regularly"... I'll just get right on that. :) 

been makin' stuff around here.

Dad's bread recipe is the best. Major comfort food. 

This is a baby quilt I'm making for a coworker of my dh.

Christmas is TOO SOON!  I'm not-quite-ready but the season has me all excited and it's going to be a fun week!