More painting… and finished knitting! :D April 23, 2006

There are new pix of the mural up.. I won’t post them twice, cause I’m sure it gets redundant for those who read both blogs…. but you can see them here!

I do have some finished knitting, but alas, I can’t show you JUST yet. I finishe my mom’s birthday pressie.. but since I haven’t sent it to her yet, I won’t put up pix. I KNOW she can’t not look… she’s sneaky like that. However.. here’s a sneak peek for some of you…. You may be able to tell what it is, but I doubt she will
It’s blocking in this pix… but I think it will be lovely

As soon as it’s been sent and received, I’ll post big pix of it.

Now.. I’m off to start some Felted Clogs for my friend Jackie… She gave me the dresser we painted for the baby’s room.. so I’m making her some clogs. Sounds like a good deal, no?

Never underestimate the generosity of the internets April 20, 2006

Today I received some delicious mail….. My sweet friend Devon sent this lovely package…

It’s hard to see, but the tissue is closed with a sticker that says “made with love by Devon”…. sigh. How sweet is that?

It’s made with GORGEOUS merino wool.. and it’s oh so very soft. SO VERY SOFT. She made some comment about not looking at the mistakes, but …. um there aren’t any mistakes! It’s beautiful

Here’s a close up of the colorway and the super cute buttons.

Thanks Devon. You’re the sweetest! Of course I’ll send you pix of the baby in it when I actually have a baby to put in it

Guess what! More sewing! and Painting!! April 15, 2006

Alas, I won’t be showing you pictures of the finished nursery. It’s close…. very close, but no cigar! I will be showing you some progress tho!

Remember this? This is what the other wall in the baby’s room looked like before…. Boring! The door leads to the crawl space.

A few changes…

Ryan working on the second cubby.

Two cubbies done! now for more paint! He brilliantly got these completely done in one weekend! they need a wee bit of sanding, and painting of course, and then shelves, but they are done!

I also spent lots of time working on the dresser that was given to us by our sweet friend Jackie. It’s the dresser she used as a changing table with both of her sweet sons. We are blessed to have it!

Here’s what it looked like before.

And after I had my way with it!

I found this sweet fabric at the thrift fabric store, I think it’s vintage, if not, who cares, how cute is it! This blankety/burp cloth set is for my dear friend Kelly’s son Kevin, who was just brought home from Guatemala! I’d better get a pix of him on this blanket!

Close up of the cuteness!

I also found this vintage fabric at the thrift store… I love love love it! it’s super soft and very old, so it needed to be backed. I found this great flannel at Joann’s to back it with and …. voila!

Here’s a close up of the fabric. Love it!

Hopefully this week the room will get finished, but don’t hold your breath. I’d like to think it’s possible, but you know with working and life, it might not happen. Off to knit!

More crafting! April 15, 2006

Man, I’m beat! busy busy busy day here at Casa Zen. No knitting as of yet (but I’m off to knit after this post). but there are crafts to show off. I went to the thrift craft store today, and found some great fabrics. Of course I then had to go to Joanns to get some coordinating fabric (Flannel is on sale for $2 a yard!!!). All in all, I spent about $50, and bought enough fabric to make many many many receiving blankets and burp cloths. many of these will be gifts, but many will stay with us too!

$4 worth of flannel gets you three burp cloths and a large recieving blanket. and… Tortugitas! what’s better than that! This one is for the goon.

Another $4 of flannel from Joann’s and about $.50 from the thrift craft store. I love this Zoon fabric. (sorry the pix is fuzzy) I think I’ll keep this one too

These two blankets will be gifts. A combination of flannels. very soft… very cute

This one is another gift. It’s super cute… but I’ll part with it cause I love the mama it’s going to.. and her future baby too! What is sweeter than little cars that say vroom vroom? Cars that say vroom vroom with bright red stripes!

Tomorrow I’ll be working on a couple of blankets that are being made with really great vintage fabric. Hopefully I can post those tomorrow night I’ll also hopefully show you the finished paint/construction in the nursery! HOPEFULLY!!!

Ok… so I didn’t stick to the bargain… April 13, 2006

I made a deal with myself that I wouldn’t start anything new until I’d finished something that was in the UFO box…Well I failed, a little. I did finish another soaker for the triplets, and I finished a soaker for another new babe that just came home from Guatemala… but I haven’t finished either my mom’s birthday present, or my MIL’s birthday present, and these need to be done sooner rather than later. I’ll get back to them…. I will!
But I had this lovely organic cotton in the stash (see, at least I’m using stash yarn!) and it needed to become something.

Sweater pattern: Cutie Patootie (free on berocco.com)
Yarn Pachuko organic cotton and cotton ease.
Started Sunday, finished tuesday.

Booties: from 50 baby booties to knit by Zoe Mellor
started last night finished tonight
Hat: just made it up.
started/finished tuesday

It’s just so cute, I almost can’t stand it.

I love love love these booties! They don’t look like they are the same size, but they are!

Here’s the whole set being modeled by our in house model. Someone left this doll here a million years ago, and it’s just the right size for newborn modeling. (I hope) Yeah.. the doll looks a little creepy… but what can you do?

Now.. back to those presents!

More crafty weekend! April 9, 2006

I spent a significant amount of my day here….
Yes, my sewing area is always this messy. I always sew on the big red ball.. if I sit well, then my back won’t hurt afterward… today.. a little sore.
Project 1….
I found this super cute (and maybe vintage?) fabric at the knittn kitten (a local craft thrift shop) and decided it must be a baby blanket! I orignally had bought some super soft fleece to back it with.. but it proved to be a complete nightmare. Therefore…. today I went shopping for a little flannel… and voila!

I just love the detail! N is for night crawler!

Project 2….
Recieving blankets! I love love love thrift store flannel. Each blanket cost me… about $1. I serged the edges, and voila!

Project 3….
Burp cloths! Double sided flannel, serged together. Some of these are for me.. and some are for an online baby shower for several women who are due this spring.

Close up of the three types of burp cloths, all thrift store flannel, all super cute.

Project 4….
Butt Wipes! Fleece on one side, terry on the other, serged together. I also made some that are double sided fleece. Simple… but they are for wiping poo! No need to get fancy.

I love love love my serger. It was given to my by my friend Amanda (hey, if you’re reading…. where are you? I haven’t seen you in forever!!!!) and although I’m still learning how to use it correctly, it rocks.

Here is the carnage from todays serging!

And one last thing….
I bought this fabric for the basinette my brilliant mom is going to recover. I bought the basinette for $20 at a garage sale, but it had ugly rabbits on it, and lace, and ruffles ::shudder:: ruffles. So my mom is going to redo it for me with this! I thought about doing it myself, but she is much more talented than I am, and well, frankly I know I’ll screw it up!

I also spent a few more hours painting.. nothing to show yet.. but if all goes well this week and next weekend, we may have some more mural photos for you. Ryan started building the cubbies that will go in the walls, so I’m going to wait on any photos till those are done. Next time you see the baby stuff room, it will be finished. I hope!

crafty weekend! April 8, 2006

I have been knitting….. my mom’s bday present, and a baby sweater.. but I can’t show you my mom’s present till I’m ready to give it to her, and I can’t show you the sweater cause it’s not done (but it will be very soon!). Knitting content to come soon, I promise.

We have diaper storage!!!

So today I finished a little project for the baby’s room. I bought this at a thrift store a long time ago. It used to have glass panes in it that said “Onions, Potato, Bread” … but I took that out and repainted and…….. I replaced the glass with flannel and lined the inside with fleece (it’s so much softer than contact paper.)

Top shelf – kissaluvs (a prefitted dipe)

Second shelf – cotton prefolds and doublers for pocket diapers

Third shelf – covers (bummis, wraps, and soakers)

These are only the newborn sized diapers (6-10 lbs – I’ll kill Ryan if I give birth to someone larger than 10 lbs). There are many many more prefolds, that will end up somewhere else (haven’t figured that out yet). and all the larger dipes (yeah, there are a lot) will also go somewhere else… (probably in storage till we need them).
I also spent a good portion of the day painting the other two walls in the baby’s room (baby stuff room is more like it since the baby will be sleeping with us) I’ve got one coat up, and will hopefully get a second coat done tomorrow, and maybe some detail work also. Hopefully Ryan will get to building the cubbies soon, so we can have the room finished. Next I need to find a used dresser that we can paint the same colors and use the top for a changing table. It’s all coming together!