Happy weekend:

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Happy Friday! Hope you are still in the throws of the glories of Thanksgiving. Hope your stomach is still disgustingly full of pumpkin pie. Hope you're napping in your stretchy pants all day. If you're out there braving the crowds, then you're braver than me (and possibly more foolish).

Hope your day after Thanksgiving is nice and relaxing. Have a great one!

Happy Thanksgiving:

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Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Last year Thanksgiving fell right in the middle of my food aversion phase. So, this year, I am looking forward to eating all the delicious things I couldn't stomach last year. It's been way too long since I filled my plate with huge servings of potatoes, rolls, and broccoli.

Hope your day is full of safe travels, good food, and quality time with loved ones! XO.

Fabric love:

Lately, I've been increasing my quality time with my sewing machine. And with that increase comes one of my favorite parts: fabric shopping.

I have had so much fun picking out fabrics for each project I tackle. As I've gotten older, this has gotten worse. It's turning into an obsession (see here). Rather than fight it though, I embrace it. This is who I am now. A fabric junkie, like my mother.

Lately, I've been really into imported Japanese fabric. I'm sure you noticed almost all of these feature animals. Apparently, the Japanese are obsessed with them and so am I.

My favorite shops for scoring these fabrics are:
Miss Matatabi
Fabricworm.com

Cute, right? I can't wait to pick some up and make some fun things!

While you were sleeping:

Today we're having M's six-month photos taken, even though he won't technically be six months until Saturday. We're doing it early due in part to the Thanksgiving holiday and in part to having to fit into our photographer's schedule. She's always very busy. Apparently, she's the celebrity photographer of the baby world here in central Arkansas.

For his shoot, I wanted to make something special for him to wear. After a search, I decided on this cowl. I picked up the yarn last week, before heading out of town for work and managed to find an hour or two to work on it while I was away but really got down to work this past weekend.

I followed the instructions pretty closely. There was one part where it says to crochet the button flap on the front, but seeing as how I suck at crocheting, I decided to go rogue. I just picked up a few stitches, knit a small flap, and secured it with a button. Looks good and saved me the grief of having to figure out that whole crochet thing.

I'm very happy with how it turned out. I can't wait to see it on his little face in his photos. For some reason, dressing babies up as animals makes them even cuter -- something that does not work with adults.

Happy weekend:

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Happy Friday, everyone!  I am beyond relieved to have reached the weekend. This week has been particularly difficult as I have just been sort of in a funk lately. It doesn't help that I had to spend my first night away from little M since well, since his inception. It was hard and there were many tears (mostly mine). So this weekend, I am just looking forward to hanging out at home and spending time with him.

Here's a little of what we've been up to lately:

1. I am making this to keep M warm this winter.
2. Getting our new house decorated for this holiday season has been so much fun. 
3. M has been making some funny new noises lately and making us all laugh.
4. I've been working on a few sewing projects that I'm excited to share.
5. I ate cheese this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We love:

Okay, so this is definitely more an "I love" but I'm happy to report that I'm rocking a new mascara these days!

For at least two years, I have been on the hunt for the perfect mascara. I don't know if I have deep-set eyes or oily eyelids (doubtful since I have the world's driest skin) but for some weird (and very annoying) reason, my mascara never seems to stay put. I have tried so many different kinds but I always end up with the dreaded raccoon eye. I was using this one for a while and it was great but on a whim, I tried this one and it gave me the same effect for about $17 less. Then suddenly, it just stopped working for me. Raccoon eyes were back and it dried out prematurely. Not happy. So, I went searching again.

This time, I found Blinc! and I love it. It's my first experience with tube mascaras. What's that? Never heard of a tube mascara? It uses polymers that wrap around your lashes and create little "tubes" that do not come off until you're ready for them too. And the best part? Despite it's staying power, this mascara is so easy to take off. All you need is hot water. That's it. No makeup removers. Just wet your lashes and slide the tubes off with your fingers. It looks a little like your eyelashes are falling out (and also a little like tiny spider legs) but it's cool. It's fine. Don't panic. Your eyelashes did not just fall out.

I am officially on the tube mascara train.

We love:

Stumbled upon this video the other day and loved it. As you may well know, I'm pretty much obsessed with Harry Potter. It's kind of like the Lord of the Rings of our day. And I'm always fascinated by those little unknown details and facts of stories.

Mark my words, Rowling is not done with the Harry Potter series. How could she be? She created such a rich world full of deep and interesting characters. There's still so much story to tell. And this video gives me hope that there's at least one more book in her.

Enjoy!

Happy weekend:

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Happy Friday! I am so ready for the weekend! We will be doing some work around the house and attending a memorial for a running friend. I've also got an art project for the nursery that I'm dying to try. What about you? Got anything fun planned?

It's freezing outside! What happened to Fall? Stay warm and dry out there!

Baby's first ornament:

I've been on the hunt for the perfect baby's first Christmas ornament for a few weeks now. I don't really know what I'm looking for, I just know what I like when I see it. That pretty much means looking at every single ornament out there. It's hard work, let me tell you.

I've managed to narrow it down to a few different ones. Here are the front runners:

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We are leaning towards the bear ornament but there are so many options, I'm having trouble deciding. I think about my first ornament (and all my other childhood Christmas ornaments) and the fond memories I have seeing them on the tree every year, and I want little M to have wonderful memories of his childhood Christmases like that. It makes it hard to choose. Suddenly, it seems like a huge responsibility. I have to make the right decision but I feel torn.

Happy weekend:

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Happy Friday, friends! What are you doing this weekend? Our local library's used book sale is happening this weekend and I am excited to pick up a few new treasures. I am also getting together with a friend to run/walk around the lake. I have really been slacking on my exercise routine lately. My running has gone completely out the window. We've also got a few projects to tackle around the house and I will be working on some sewing. It seems like that's what's always on our "to-do" list every weekend. That's real life right there.

Here's what we've been up to lately:

1. We celebrated Halloween at a good friend's Halloween party (more on M's Halloween costume here).
2. This time change has really messed with me. I expected it to mess up M's schedule but instead, it messed up mine -- something I did not anticipate.
3. I got to celebrate a friend and the upcoming arrival of her sweet baby girl. She is one of the only other people I know that cloth diapers (or will be, anyway) so I got her some cloth diapering goodies and a few homemade knitted baby hats.
4. Some of our good friends welcomed their first born, a son, on Sunday! We're looking forward to meeting him and welcoming them into the new parents' club!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

While you were sleeping:

This year, for M's first Halloween, we decided to dress him as Yoda. This decision came after much discussion and brainstorming. I wanted something that I could make but wouldn't be too labor intensive or demanding. I wanted to make his first costume but have fun doing it, too. So, Yoda it is.

I didn't really have a plan for how to go about this. After searching online, I found a knitting pattern for a Yoda hat that turned out to be surprisingly quick and easy. I think I finished it in just two evenings. As for the robe, I found a pattern but after looking it over, decided it was too difficult. Not that I couldn't do it, I just didn't want something that had so many steps. I didn't need it to be an actual garment because he'd only be wearing it for one evening. Finishing didn't really matter to me.

After scrapping my first attempt, here's what I ended up doing:

I laid M down on top of some tracing paper and drew around his body. I made sure to not follow too closely so the robe would be nice and loose. Then I cut out my pattern, pinned it onto some muslin, and cut it out. I went rogue on the sleeves and cut it even wider so the sleeves would be nice and wide -- sort of a bell sleeve thing going on.

After I cut it out, I just stitched up the sides, finished the edges, and added a tiny little hood. I picked up a plain brown long-sleeved shirt and brown pants to go under his robe. Baby costume done.

We went to a friend's Halloween party and M did beautifully. He was up past his bedtime but didn't fuss or cry. He just took it all in (and looked insanely cute while doing it).

I may have already said this but having a baby has really reignited my sewing. I have been having so much fun making little things for him. It's exciting and fulfilling. I am enjoying it immensely. 

Rug love:

We have been slowly finding pieces that we love to fill our home with. For the past seven months, we've been living with a lot of bare floors, bare walls, and temporary pieces while we acquire new things to make our home feel lived in. It has been an extremely slow process partly because I am incredibly picky (we have a rule that we only bring in things that we really love) and partly because we don't have the budget to do a major redecorating project. We're getting there though.

A few days ago, West Elm had 20% off rugs so we picked up this beauty for the office:

I love that it's a flat weave so it will vacuum easily. We do a lot of living in our office -- watching tv, surfing the internet, snacking, knitting -- and I like that I don't have to worry about food particles and dirt getting trapped in the rug. 

Now I just have to find a nice couch to go in that space. Anyone know where I can find a 65" sofa?

Photo project:

Every week since M's birth, we have been taking a weekly photo of him. We've committed to this project for the entire first year of his life. And it has been such a fun way to document this special time in his life.

We dress him in a white onesie and a white diaper and lay him down on a different fabric each week. It has been so much fun to plan each of these little photo shoots. I've been picking up yards of bright-colored fabric since before his arrival (see here). I usually haunt the clearance sections of our local fabric stores and a few choice websites, so I'm able to grab multiple fabrics at a bargain.

After we take a few dozen photos, I edit them, photoshop the week onto his onesie, and add them to our growing collection. Now that we're almost halfway through this project (!!), I'm starting to plan what to do with all this fabric when we've finished all 52 weeks. 

The plan all along was to cut each of the fabric up and make a quilt for little M for his first birthday. I think it would be such a sweet little gift -- something that will grow with him his entire life. I can see it on his bed as a toddler and I can see myself packing it away in a box to send with him to college. I can see him cuddling up in it for story time now and wrapping his own children up in it later on. I really want it to be an heirloom piece for him -- something he carries with him as a reminder of how much his mother loves him. I can't wait.

I am thinking about using the rest of the fabric to create a "happy birthday" banner for him, too. I like the idea of having something that we can break out each year to celebrate his special day.

I realize that whatever I do for him, I will have to do for any additional children we may have but I'm having so much fun with this project that I really don't think I'll mind. In fact, I look forward to it. I like having an excuse to buy lots of fabric. Apparently, my mother's fabric hoarding has rubbed off on me.