Baby Gift

A few posts back I mentioned that I was working on a gift for some friends and that I would put up pictures after I had sent them their package. . .well. . .here they are.
Our friends, Kate and Andres are having their first baby, a boy, any time now! They had a celebration/shower last weekend. Unfortunately, for us, they live in Miami so we couldn't attend but wanted to send something special to mark the occasion; I whipped up a blanket, bib and burp cloth .
The bib and burp cloth are knit in cotton, from patterns in this book. The blanket is based on some swaddling blankets my sister received as a gift and swears by. I used a light-weight vintage cotton for the blanket as an attempt to offset the Florida heat and humidity.
I have said before that I use this hat pattern for winter and cooler climate babies. Do you all have a go to baby gift or diy item you like to give?

On Trend

I was pretty proud of myself when I saw this image and post on Apartment Therapy. If you all remember I had Jerod spruce up an old typewriter stand for us last fall (you can check it out here). Yay for being on trend . . . now I just need to be ahead of my time and get recognized for it:)

The Yard: Part I

We (and by we I mean Jerod and his father) made HUGE progress on our backyard this weekend! When we bought our house there was a corrugated metal shed in the backyard. This was good since there was no garage but bad because of its bizarre location (see pictures 1 and 2).

Don't ask me why but whoever put the shed in built it right in the middle of the yard and didn't level it, causing it to tilt towards our neighbors garage. Luckliy, my father-in-law and Jerod devised a plan that involved rolling the shed to the back of the yard on pipes (isn't that how Stonehenge was built?) Now our shed sits lovely and logically at the back of the yard (See picture 5)! Just imagine a fence, garden, flowers and green grass.




A couple of action shots. I tried to be sneaky so as not to interrupt all of the progress they were making.

Happy Daylight Savings Time!!!!!!!

I will start by saying I had other plans for this post unfortunately they fell apart but more on that later. Yesterday was a beautiful day, combine that with the time change and I have decided that winter is over! I'm sure it will get cold again but for now I am ignoring that and soaking up the good spring vibes.
I feel that Jerod and I got quite a bit done yesterday but don't have too much to show for it, picture-wise that is. Jerod raked and cleaned up the back yard and also got a lot of info from our neighbors on both sides (he discovered that the house behind us use to be a crack house, it's very cute now, and some interesting bits on different incarnations of our house and yard). . . so we are slowly but surely getting ready to start all of the yard projects.
I made some new pillows for the living room couch but am waiting to show them off until I finish them all. . .Do not worry I WILL post pictures. I almost finished a couple of small projects but they are gifts so I won't post about them until I give them (you can see part of one in the above photo).
I originally planned to post about the sweater I have been knitting which is/was going really well. I have 2/3 of the body and one sleeve done. Well. . . . all I can say is mistakes have been made. Everything I have mentioned is knit correctly and looking good but either in haste, distraction, or just plain old not paying attention (I began this sweater at the airport during a semi-stressful time)I have made this sweater about 20x to big for me (by misreading the pattern I am making and XL instead of a Medium). What I am trying to say is I am going to have to start over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can re-use all of the yarn which is good but YIKES! Needless to say, I am a bit frustrated with myself. I am/was enjoying the pattern and really love how sweater is going to look so I will start over BUT I need to take a few weeks off before I do this. In my experience it is often best to step away from a project for a bit after a major mess up. Oh well. . . below is a sneak peek of of what it was looking like. If something is worth doing it is worth doing right. . .Good Lord I am annoyed with myself though.

For today I think I will work on pillows some more and finish up those gifts. Maybe I will watch this while I do it:)
I hope everyone is doing something fun, relaxing or both this weekend.

Laissez les bon temps roulez

In honor of Mardi Gras I cooked up some red beans and rice tonight! As anyone who knows me is aware I am a bit obsessed with beans and will use any excuse to cook/eat them. My favorite cookbook of all time has a delicious and spicy recipe for "Bourbon Street Red Beans and Rice". They are great fresh out of the pot and even better for lunch the next day (which is always a plus). Our excitement for the night stopped there but good food and good company means a good evening.
I hope everyone is having a wonderful day and did a little celebrating.
So. . . Happy Mardi Gras to all and CHEERS!

*Note* wash hands with soap after cutting a Jalapeno and DO NOT rub eyes.

Bedside Manners

I know you all are excited because this post is two for the price of one. . .when it comes to marking things off the to do list! We are going to take a look at the bedspread & bedskirt, I made for our bedroom and some night stands Jerod spruced up for me.
Let's start with the bedside tables!
Along in September Jerod took an old, worn out bedside table, we already were using and a rusted typewriter stand and gave them a sanding and a coat of paint and . . .Voila! Fresh, cute and mismatched (while still related) tables.

Ignore the taped together alarm clock on the first table, I am aware it needs replacing.

Now we will move on to the bedspread and bedskirt. There is not too much to say, except that I sewed diagonally cut strips of fabric together, backed them with cotton batting and solid colored cotton and then machine quilted it (sort of). I also made some matching pillow cases and a contrasting bedskirt. I am quite pleased with the results. I would like to make drapes for the room and possibly add a couple of decorative pillows but compared to what it use to look like, it's a 100% improvement.

Oh. . . and Crispin helped me during the sewing process.

Miss Molly (A Secret Knitting Project)

On December 22nd my niece Molly was born! A few weeks before she was born I visited my family in Colorado and took some pre-birth presents to Molly. I have knitted a blanket and hat for both of my sister's other children (Owen and Wyatt) and was not about to stop for her third.

My sister and her husband choose not to find out the sex of their babies so I always try to pick gender neutral colors for these projects, since I complete them before they are born. I also use 100% cotton since I am never sure what type of allergies or skin sensitivities a kiddo might have. On top of feeling good cotton is easy to wash and dry which is nice for kids stuff. For Molly's blanket and hat I used white, yellow and two tones of grey (I have since become obsessed with this color combo. . . you all may see it crop up in a latter project). In my attempt to stay gender neutral I made a detachable flower for the hat, which has come in handy! I used a traditional log cabin pattern for the blanket. You can find a good explanation of this pattern in this book.

I have used a variation on this hat pattern more times than I can count . . . You can find it in this book. And of course I had to include a picture of the adorable Miss Molly Katherine Hobgood all dressed up!