a meander

So, after my last post, I must say that today I flew the coop (or shall I say I left the house) by myself. Grammie came and so I went for a meander around the West Village. I stopped in at Camp on Perry and Hable Construction and Milk and Cookies for a latte (oh boy did I want some cookies too). I have a real obsession with cookies. It wasn't always this way but, it is now and that's all there is to it. I could do without the milk though. I've never liked milk on it's own. As for Camp on Perry, it was written up in Blueprint Magazine and I was curious. At Hable Construction, I had a kind of freak out moment where I saw things similar to things I've made and are making and was like hmm should I try and do consignment at a shop. Anyone have any tips on this?
It was so nice out today and even with some snow on the ground you could tell spring was coming. Usually during this time of day (little M's naptime) I'm photographing, writing this blog and then working on my projects. Alas, it is now too dark out to photograph any of my latest endeavors.

Also, in the news, my little man has progressed in the walking department past 6 steps which he started two and a half weeks ago to around 15-20 steps at a time!

P.S. Those are my feet in D.C. in the summer of 2005.

nesting

Like all these dainty and pretty little scrap threads, yarn, felt and fabric all huddled together I have nestled in this winter staying in more than usual and working on projects when I get the chance.

millinery brooches

I'm so excited to show these beautiful brooches I made yesterday. They are made with vintage buttons (the base) and vintage millinery items, birds and ribbon. They are wrapped with gold thread from Germany and a little glueing for extra security.
A lot of the items used to make these came from one of my all time favorite stores that I discovered last year called Parcel in Montclair, NJ. We went there on Saturday afternoon after Matty's friend Kasper's b-day party got cancelled (boo hoo) but will hopefully be rescheduled soon.







I also picked up these old game piece letters to spell out my obsession with crafting.



On Friday night we watched, The Science of Sleep which is fascinating. I want to watch it again and again. I highly recommend it (and the character Stephanie is a very interesting crafter). I love her little forest boat.

I'm still recovering from actually going out on Saturday night and staying up way past my bedtime. I went to Maxwell's to see The Lemonheads with my friend Kristen. Evan Dando was great and still looks the same (or at least the same hair). I forgot my glasses at home so the fine details were out.

And, yesterday, we had a great play date. Owen is 12 days younger then little M and it was their first time meeting and it went so good...they hugged and played nicely. I was so impressed. The closeness in age makes so much difference at this stage in their lives. We want to hang with Owen more- such a cool little guy.

tiny stitches, tiny feet

I love to make little knit shoes/booties/slippers. Whatever you like to call them, they are just so sweet like the tiny feet they envelop.
For a while there I was only making this kind



which I still love and will always make but, lately I have been trying out some new ones.



My latest are these Pom Pom Slippers from Debbie Bliss. I love her patterns. They are so beautiful and inspirational. The one difficult part about these again is working on such small needles (size 2). I love how it looks but it is much more time consuming. I can be so impatient jumping from one thing to the next. Always wanting to do 10 things at once. Always wishing to accomplish more and feeling I've not done enough today, this week. I have to remind myself that slowing down and working on something that takes time is good too. Really, it is.

windowsills

I love to set up little objects together and create little scenes. A windowsill is a perfect place for my arrangements. A few of my favorites are the kitchen and bathroom windowsills. The dining room is another but I can't get over there now as I might wake the napping baby one room over.



The kitchen one shows some of my favorite salt and pepper shakers which are something I have been collecting for years and never tire of. Also, other little objects which I grow fond of make their way there - little butter dishes, a tiny suitcase, vintage creamers. There is always something about the kitchen for me - it is the easiest room for me to decorate. You know how when you have a party in your apartment people all tend to congregate in the kitchen even when you have spread out the food all around your place and the couches and chairs are very inviting. It's just the way it is. People love the kitchen.



The bathroom is also this way for me. I know that maybe that is strange but I kind of love our bathroom - minus the kitty litter box. We have an old claw foot tub and the color in our bathroom is this perfect grey green with gray beadboard and the original tile floor which is a bit beat up but loveable in an old way. I try to evoke a calm feeling for that room totally opposite of the kitchen which is super colorful and vibrating with energy.

'quilt' ideas

Yeah, it's in the 40's and I almost feel like it's spring even though there is snow all over the place. Matty and I went to the playground today and at first we were all by ourselves but then a few other people showed up. In the summer going to the playground can feel redundant but, today it was just the best. The swings were dry and the smile on little M's face so big.

So last night I got to thinking about quilts with spring coming and all - less layers. However, I don't feel ready quite yet to embark on the queen size quilt for my bed so I thought about it and although I have also been loving little doll quilts I'm thinking a crib sized quilt. Now the 2 ideas I have so far are girly and I think they would be fun to make but shouldn't I be focusing on a boy quilt for Matty. I will have to think about one for him.

One idea I have is to use the yo yo's I've been making except not stich them all together like a typical yo yo quilt but, rather space them out in rows evenly and maybe add other elements like leaves and embroidery although maybe just the yo yo's alone would be pretty.

The other idea goes something like this - just sew a bunch of patches down randomly. I've got 30 tiny square patches. Now that I look at it, I think I may need more for a 30 x 50 quilt and I'm not sure red is the best background color. Now I know this isn't true quilting but maybe it would be good just to do something simple to start with so I can see what it like to do the B's (use batting, back and bind). Did I just come up with that? I'm sure someone else made up the three B's...

I can just see myself making quilt tops and then have them sitting around until I work up the courage to run them through the Singer Merritt because I can see the layers might cause problems. Maybe hand quilting would have to be done. Maybe this should just be put on the back burner.

oops

Remember how I said I was trying not to buy yarn. Well, I confess I couldn't keep that promise. I made 2 trips in the past few days to my LYS and wouldn't you know it, I didn't even stick to the approved list .

It started because I was working on my third capelet (the green one) and I ran out of yarn to finish it. The yarn is a little off but I think it's still ok. It is a bit lighter and less yellow-green. There are no dye lots on Manos yarn plus, the first skein of it I bought quite a while ago and I didn't want to search around for an exact.



Can you imagine if my next baby or babies (once I decide to get pregnant again that is) turned out to be triplets and were girls and wore these in some super fancy triplet pram.....oh my.



Then I was going to buy a dress pattern and cotton for that but, they didn't have the pattern in stock yet so I held off buying that yarn but, then 5 more skeins showed up in the basket. Oh boy, I guess this is one addiction I still have to work on. At least most of the skeins I bought I have projects attached to.

Of course, I've also decided I want to make a bolero from light blue Rowan Kid Classic but since I don't have a pattern yet I controlled myself.

So there is a little pat on back. I'm not that bad, am I?