Christmas craziness

I haven't forgotten about this blog, really I haven't, but most of the things I am making are secret, so I have few pictures to post. Not to mention the fact that I am swamped at work, swamped at home with projects and the daily upkeep (if you can call it that) of the family and home. My inlaws are coming to visit in about 10 days and my husband had the audacity to get sent out of town for work (how dare he ;), so it is up to me to get the house presentable. We are excited to see them, though, it has been almost a year since they have seen the girls. They may barely recognize them!

I hope that the few people out there reading this had a great Thanksgiving. We had a pretty low-key time. We lost someone very special to us this year, and his presence was greatly missed, so it was a bit melancholy (that word makes me think of the Smiths), but we enjoyed ourselves and ate like pigs. I also went with my girls to spend some time in my home town with my mom and I was able to get a good bit of sewing done. My mom was such a help with the girls (thanks). I hooked up with my girlfriends and went to an old haunt (FST, now Scoundrels) that is much changed and we saw a really bad disco cover band. (I will not post the pic of Kelley with the band to save her the embarrassment). It was good for lots of laughs and a bit of a hangover the next day.

I will however post some pics of some of the things I am working on soon and some gratuitous photos of my kids for the grandparents. In the meantime, to see a few of the Christmas photos my very talented friend took, of my girls, go here.

Excited!

I am so excited, I just won a $20 gift certificate from my favorite sewing website, Sew Mama Sew! This is great, because I have lots more fabric to buy for Christmas gifts and I know just what I am getting although I won't tell just in case the recipient is reading this (not likely).

I have been doing lots of crafting lately, but none to be posted since it is all for Christmas gifts.

Instead, here are links to other bloggers with some of my favorite holiday ideas and please check out all the other holiday tutorials on Sew Mama Sew.

• Little Elephants snow globe would make a great teacher gift. Also check out the Christmas village they made with a Martha Stewart kit - I want that!
• I am thoroughly obsessed with this felt food on You Can Make This.
• Angry Chicken's Christmas cards are lovely.
• Pioneer Woman has a ton of decadent holiday recipes.
• And no holiday would be complete without Bakerella's cake pops/balls!

Grosgrain puts the fab in fabulous

GROSGRAIN MINI STORE OPENING NOVEMBER 6!!!! AND BIG PREVIEW GIVEAWAY!!!!

If you haven't checked out this website, YOU MUST GO THERE NOW. This woman makes gorgeous clothes and gives them away, as in for free. It is unbelieveable. And if there is any doubt of her awesomeness check at the Marie Therese dress she just gave away. Oh how I am kicking myself for missing the deadline on that one!

First posting

This is a month of firsts! Sew Mama Sew is my number one source for sewing inspiration and sewing products, they have the most gorgeous fabrics and patterns ( I have a few things in my wish list right now!). They requested links to projects, I sent mine in and today my beach bag made it to their pages! I couldn't be more thrilled. The online crafting/blogging community is so fabulous, I am happy to be a part of it.

First Festival

Well, my first festival was moderately successful, I think. I sold about half my stuff and it seemed like people were quite interested in my crayon roll-ups. I can use the leftovers for Christmas presents. Thank you to my wonderful friends, the Snyders, for coming to see me, buying a couple totes and taking some pictures.

I wish I had the time to do another one before Christmas, but I am too busy making Christmas gifts for my family, which I enjoy more anyway. In fact, I am slightly obsessed with coming up for something for my very hard to buy/make for hubby. I think I have an idea, but the execution may be the challenge. The ideas seem to be easy to come by, it is the skill and time to execute where I tend to struggle.

I did, however, just buy this adorable fabric (not for hubby) that is discontinued, but I had to have it anyway, don't be surprised to see this in some Christmas gifts:

Harvest of the Arts

Just wanted to let anyone who may happen to come by here that I will be attempting to sell some of my creations at the Harvest of the Arts Festival this Saturday from 9-5 in Saline, MI. I will be a squatter in my friend, Claudia's booth (#21 near Michigan Ave). She makes the most amazing quilts! If you are in the area, come by and say hello!

many creations

Even though I haven't been posting, I have been creating a lot this summer. Unfortunately, I sometimes don't get photos of my creations but I am trying to get better about that.

First up, some gifts for my new nephew and his big sis. Super easy "quick quilt" from jcaroline, the adorable doggie fabric is from Joann's. I am so excited to have a boy to sew for.

I also made a super simple fat quarter tote for my niece with her initial on it. I made these for my girls too, but forgot to take pics (oops!)

For our trip to the beach (that never happened), I made the girls some simple sundresses using New Look pattern #6195. Again, fabric from Joann's. My original plan was actually to make nightgowns, but Lily wanted a dress she could "wear outside". Couldn't get Chloe to pose for a pic, but Lily is always my little model.

I also created a couple of beach totes (one for me and and identical one for a friend) using the vinyl covered tote tutorial from jcaroline (can you tell I love that site). I had to wait a while for that fabric, but I am in love with it and it was totally worth the wait. The vinyl was much easier to stitch than I thought it would be.

Finally, some gifts for my sister's birthday. She is a hip girl and since retro style aprons are so in, I decided to try one for her. I also whipped up some matching oven mitts from a pattern in Lotta Jansdotter's book, Simple Sewing. Don't you just love the bird fabric?!

I made a few more things, like headbands to match the dresses, a peasant blouse for Chloe, a superhero cape for a friend's birthday and a sunhat for myself, but I don't have pictures of those. Maybe I will get around to it.

I am trying out a few creations to sell at the end of September in a local craft show. I don't know when I will find the time!

Thanks a lot Dolly!

So, we were supposed to go to South Padre Island to hang out on the beach for a week with my in-laws, it has been in the works for about a year, but Hurricane Dolly came along and foiled our plans. It was a real bummer and it took a few days for all of us to accept that we would not be going to the beach this year, but we turned our time off into a "stay-cation" and it was pretty fun. We went to a local lake, the waterpark, the pool. Turns out our good friends who have children the same ages as ours were also having a "stay-cation" so we got together with them quite a bit. We also did a bit of decorating in the kids' rooms, so we spent a day of our time off at Ikea!

Here are some pics from our week, it wasn't the Gulf of Mexico, but we made the best of it:

I don't know how she does it...

My good friend (and future inlaw ;), Christine Asidao, has just started her own photography business and she is fantastic! All this while working full time and raising 2 small children. She has taken many wonderful pics for us, see below for evidence.

Support a local mom and check out her site (note pics of my Chloe in her portfolio).

Broken bones

I know I said I would recap Mexico (for my one reader), but first an update about our trips to the ER.

The Broken Arm that wasn't:

So here is the story on Lily's cast. I was in DC for business and I get a call from my husband that she fell on the playground trying to make a human pyramid with her friends (huh?). Apparently, they have dreams of being cheerleaders some day. Nonetheless, she was in major pain and at about 6 pm Dad decided to take her to the ER. Side note: Dad was on his own for the first time during the week and not coping so well, so taking 2 little ones to the ER on a Thursday night - not exactly a picnic. OK, back to the story, they didn't see a break on the X-ray, but splinted it just in case. Since her bones are still growing they wanted to err on the side of caution. The splint/cast was special and she kind of like showing it off for about a day, then the novelty wore off, and she was done with it. Thankfully, when I took her to the Orthopedist (is that the word?) a few days later, he said it wasn't broken and took off the splint. A summer with a cast was not a prospect I was looking forward to so I was glad. Although, she insists it was actually broken, it just healed quickly.



The Broken Collar Bone that was:

On to my other daughter, Chloe, aged 2.5. Last Sunday, the kids were outside playing, next thing we know, Chloe starts wailing. Lily was swinging very high (like she always does) and Chloe walked right in front of her. Lily tried to stop, but it was impossible, she hit Chloe on her left side. We didn't think a whole lot of it, she wailed pretty hard and then fell asleep, it was naptime. When she woke up, she was really wincing a lot about her right shoulder. Well, I didn't want to go the hospital twice for unbroken bones, so my idea was just to wait it out and see. Dad said, better safe than sorry, let's just take her in. I gave in. Sure enough, her collar bone was fractured, not broken in two, so no surgery (was that an option?!), but a 'green stick' fracture. Think of bending a green stick, it breaks apart at the top while the bottom stays intact. They gave her a figure 8 brace and told us it will heal really well. Yeah, but try living with a toddler in pain!



Finally, I want to give a shout out to St. Joe's pediatric ER. So quick and efficient, we were able to get out of there in time to get the kids to bed at a decent hour.

Back to crafting

After the last post, I think it is time to return to all things crafty. I have been working on lots of things lately and have even finished a couple projects. A purse for Kelley and one for myself using a free pattern from jcaroline

A cast cover, for the broken arm that wasn't.

I also went back to knitting group last week after a looooooong hiatus. I am working on a gift for my soon to be born nephew, so I will wait to post a pic until it is sent to my sis-in-law.

I have also been working on knitting Coppelia for Chloe and I am LOVING the look. I modified the yarns quite a bit because the Berroco Tutu is about $15 a skein and I need 6! I wasn't sure how it would work out, but it is great and I might have enough leftover to make a skirt for my Lily.

So, I decided to make some simple nightgowns for my girls for the summer, but Lily has decided she wants a dress to wear outside, so now I am trying to figure out how to make one with the limited fabric I have. I am probably going to wing something without a pattern similar to this, wish me luck.

In the next post, I will recap our wonderful trip to Mexico. Stay tuned.

Mark

On April 14th, my mom's partner, my (almost) stepdad, and a wonderful grandpa to my kids, suddenly passed away leaving a giant hole in our hearts.

He always had his arms open to hold a child.

He was more than willing to change poopy diapers.

He looked up science experiments on the internet to do with my kids.

He starved so he could take my mom on a date.

He waited up for me and my sisters.

He was teaching Lily how to ride without training wheels.

He was a fantastic writer and I wish I had saved more of his e-mails.

He was a dog walker, dog trainer, and dog groomer.

He loved gardening and was my mom's "lawn boy".

He was always reading and knew facts about any topic.

He was always so grateful and appreciative for what he had.

I will miss him immensely.

Brush with greatness

The Yarn Harlot (aka Stephanie Pearl-McPhee) came to speak in Ann Arbor last night and I convinced a non-knitter friend (Thanks, Megan!) to go with me to hear her speak. We got there an hour early and there was no seating in the main room, in fact some people got there at 11:30am for a 7 o'clock talk! That's dedication. We sat in an overflow room, which also filled up, and got to see her on a big TV.

Her talk was quite interesting, about how knitters are viewed by non-knitters and why knitting is not a "mindless, waste of time activity" (which knitters already know). I waited in line for 1.5 hours to have some of her books signed, which seemed excessive, but I got to meet some great people while waiting. In fact, that may have been the best part about the whole thing, getting to be together with such a large group of knitters and meeting some great people.

Ravelry

I am finally on Ravelry, yippee! Most of you (2 people that read this blog) are like "WTF is Ravelry and who cares", but it is a very cool knitting community and a great way to keep track of your knitting projects and see what others are up to. I am a dork, I know, but what can I say the website is beyond cool. No more scouring the net for the "just right" pattern, I can find it in Ravelry. It only took me an hour to figure out how the put the button on my page (yes, I am a dork who knows nothing about HTML) (look to the right), so if it doesn't link, my name is magwilky, not original, but easy to remember.

Hope to see some of my knitter buds on there soon and maybe make some new ones.

Jon and Kate + 8

This show makes my life look calm. Thank you for that.

April fools???

Well, it's April and hovering around the freezing mark, gotta love Michigan. There was snow on the ground for Easter, 2 years in a row now! I thought I took a picture, but I think I was far too depressed.

I will leave you with some adorable pics of my girls on Easter Eve and Easter. Despite the snowy weather and illnesses, we had a lovely holiday.

I'm baaaack!

Wow, I cannot believe it has been almost a year since I have posted anything. Yikes, so much has happened. I signed up for Ravelry and am waiting for my invite, so I figured I'd better get back on the blog. I would love to become a part of the internet community of crafters that I lurk around in on a daily basis.

I have been crafting like a fiend, my new love has been sewing, but knitting, I haven't forgotten you! I will hopefully get a Flickr finished objects doohickey on here whenever I can figure out how.

Speaking of Flickr, I got a new camera (Yay!), a digital SLR, which I love, love, love, so I will be posting pics of my kids ad nauseum (grandparents won't mind at least) and probably other random items as well. If only I could photograph as well as Dooce!