So…… I kinda stink at this

Keeping up with this blog it turns out is not my forte. I think about posting often but it’s always for “after I finish folding the clothes” or “after I get this diaper changed”, etc. Obviously that never happens. It’s been a busy couple of months around here. I did get the sweater I was talking about on my last post done but no pics because I finished it at the baby shower. Cut that one close! I put on a baby shower for my sister and her new baby boy and these are the invites that I made.

I cut a triangle out of cardstock, folded it into a diaper shape and snipped the corners off for the leg holes. Then I punched two holes in one fold of the diaper and inserted a diaper pin. The invitation is printed on paper and glued to the inside. They were super easy and I really like the way they turned out.

We have been doing a bit of gardening around here too. Henry and I planted peas a month or so ago (only 4 plants made an appearance so I think the birds liked them. I have since replanted.)

I had another baby shower to attend in May for my sister-in-law and I actually finished this gift in time. The booties are the Classic Cashmere Booties (not made in cashmere) and the hat is the Baby’s Beanie Hat both from my standby baby gift book, Simple Knits for Cherished Babies by Erika Knight. The butterfly is from a hand sewing pattern purchased from Hilary at Wee Wonderfuls (they changed wordpress and I can’t figure out how to add a link but she’s one of the blogs on my sidebar).

Today is nasty and rainy and my son is stir crazy so in between loads of laundry, he and I did a bit of crafting. He is really into David when we read him his Bible so we made masks for him to be a lion, the sheep that the lion is going to eat, and David when he fights of the lion.

He wanted to make and ark and Noah but I didn’t have it in me so we improvised. We had some stickers that Henry got for Christmas from his cousins in France so we made and ark and I let him put the animal stickers all over it. He is super fascinated with animals right now and loves the Planet Earth series, which I don’t feel quite so bad letting him watch since it’s educational. He was going to get glue everywhere if he tried to play with the masks so I deterred him with an “animal movie”. He clutched his Noah picture and took it with him to the couch.

His request was the episode where the lions kill the elephant. Should I be worried that my son is morbid? I guess he’s just a boy! I gotta go fold clothes. Boys go through so many clothes and I know this is only the beginning. I remember the mud caked jeans that my brothers used to bring in……uggh!

Another great knit

I love to get good mail. That’s one of the things I love about the Christmas season is that you never know what you are going to find in your mailbox. Cards, letters, and packages are such a welcome relief to the seemingly endless junk mail and bills (especially post baby and gallbladder surgery). Yesterday, we received a package from my good friend Deborah down in LA….a sweater for Jack. It just fits him and with perfect timing since we have had freezing weather the last several days. My camera doesn’t do good close ups so I can’t get a good shot of the details. It has a great diagonal line on both front panels that comes to a V when it buttons where the stitch appears to switch directions. Anyhow, very cute, warm, and the charcoal color really brings out his bright blue eyes.

My camera doesn’t really do it justice but here is a picture of Jack modeling it.

Christmas is coming

Christmas is coming and I have so much to do.  I am feeling tons better from my surgery though still sore and a bit slow in the AM.  I guess since I am only 5 days out I’m doing really well.  We have been extremely blessed to have family and friends offer meals and to have had two meals in the freezer leftover from an extra large soup I made and a dinner someone brought to me post-baby that I couldn’t eat because of the gallbladder (which I now was able to eat).  I haven’t felt much up to cooking yet and it’s very nice to not have to worry about it.  Today I ventured out of the house to my Grandma’s to let Henry play with his aunt and uncles (my youngest sibling is the same age as Henry) so I could just sit back with Jack and knit Christmas presents.  It was nice.  We just sent our Christmas package off to Jim’s sister’s family in France which feels like a huge load off my shoulders.  Now I am just (ya, just) working on getting out Christmas cards, finishing up a hat for my little sister, making some paper dolls and a ballet bag for my niece, a gift for my in-laws (which may or may not happen before Christmas, they may end up with an IOU),  a hat and slippers for my little bro,  a gift for my husbands bro and his wife, cookies, and I would like to actually make something for my sons…..we’ll see what I get to.  Here’s the pic we took last night to put in with our Christmas cards.

 

Aren’t they precious?  Which reminds me, I need to order those now.  The Costco website was too slow last night and wouldn’t let us order them.   I better get going!

Handknit baby gifts

Here are some gifts that people made for baby Jack.  First a great sweater made by my mother-in-law.

A giant elephant made by my sister-in-law and a cuddly teddy bear made by one of my piano student’s aunts.

and an adorable hat made by the same piano students mom.

A few things I’ve been working on…..

Well, it’s been a month since I posted last but with the new baby and adjusting to life with two kiddos it’s been a bit busy. Hopefully I will be able to blog a bit more now but my gallbladder acted up again this weekend so we’ll see. I did finish those coasters I was talking about a couple of posts ago. I traced a leaf that I found outside onto cardstock and cut it out to use as a pattern. I then pinned it to two pieces of felt in contrasting colors and cut them out using the cardstock leaf as a template. I glued them together with fabric glue and now we have fall coasters. I have wanted to get some done since last year so I was very excited about them. It’s not the best photo but I don’t feel like taking another one so this is what you get.

I also finished the cradle bumpers here.

Jim made this cradle for me for the Christmas before we had Henry. I didn’t get the bedding done for Henry. I think we just folded up some blankets for him to sleep on and did the same thing for bumpers but for Jack we now have bedding. Too bad he doesn’t like to sleep in it. Hopefully we’ll get there. It doesn’t matter how out he is, withing ten minutes of laying him down, he’ll be awake and then be quiet as soon as we get him into bed with us. I would let him cry but he’ll wake up Henry so I am working on getting him to sleep by himself for naps and eventually….hopefully….I’ll be able to sleep without a baby on or beside me again.

After Jack was born, I realized that all of the “newborn” hats were way too big so I quick knit him up a hat that would fit. Henry got jealous so I had to knit him one too, and Jim has been begging me for a hat for a couple of months now so they all have matching hats. Jim’s has stripes because I was afraid I was going to run out of yarn. I think I would have been ok but I like the stripes so I’m glad I decided to put them in.

Here’s a picture of my boys modeling their stocking caps.