"Jackson's Sunshine"

Karma. I love karma. Do a little bit of good, get a little bit of good back. It's like the barter system on the most basic level, and it's something I can get on board with.

Karma manifests itself differently for everyone. Me? I have parking karma. No matter how busy the street, the mall, the whatever, there is always a parking spot for me very close to the door. Which is good, since I'm usually toting a kid or two, maybe a dog, and invariably some other armful of something that I'm picking up or dropping off. I am very happy with the way that karma returns it's blessings to me, and when the parking spots start to dwindle, I know I'm either being a jerk, or it's time to build up my karmic stash again, and I better get busy.

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Griffin goes to daycare with a little dude named Jackson. Griffin and Jackson are buddies, but they are very similar in personalities - both headstrong, stubborn and the bruisers of the bunch, so they sometimes end up butting heads, often literally. I have a soft spot for Jackson though, I see a lot of Griffin in him - he's a true rough and tumble boy, with a heart of gold underneath that tough exterior.

Jackson is also one of those kids who has the unfortunate privilege of knowing the inside of Sick Kids Hospital way too well. He has Hydrocephalus, and has had more surgeries in his short three years than most of us will have in a lifetime. Or three lifetimes. So when his mom sent out an email looking for donations for a silent auction to benefit Hydrocephalus research at Sick Kids, I knew I had to help.
This quilt was more than a silent auction prize for me. I challenged myself to free-motion quilt the entire thing, which I have never done before, and I couldn't be happier with the results. I started it plenty in advance, spent some time picking out some GREAT fabric, took my time, and did it all right, with no shortcuts, and no rushing to finish. I tried (and think I succeeded) to make this quilt gender neutral, to make it more appealing to everyone. I used every last scrap of the 6 fat quarters that I purchased, and carried it over onto the back with a quilted strip that I love love love!I feel like I've taken my quilting skills to the next level with this quilt, and I'm stoked to do more. I have a pile of fabric upstairs that I bought two years ago to make a quilt for Griffin, and now I'm glad that I waited to cut into it. I also have a stack of fabric ready for Corben, and I'm excited about it too. (SOCK MONKEYS!) And as a result of posting the quilt photos, I have requests for more!I'm glad I took up the challenge to make this quilt. It's brought me to a new place in my quilting journey. It's hopefully going to fetch a pretty penny at the silent auction and benefit a great cause. And, I figure it should be good for a few really good parking spots!

A Gift of an Evening

Do you ever have one of those days/nights where it just all comes together?

Yeah, pretty fricking rare around here too!

But tonight, the clouds parted for just a moment, and a ray of light shone down on me, and my children, and my sewing room, and it all went right for a moment.

I thought it was going to hell at 5:30, when Corben fell asleep for his 4th nap today.

Fourth.

That was sure to be the demise of bedtime as we know it.

He woke up at 6:30, wailing.

We snuggled, he ate.

Griffin, who spent a good part of this (rainy) day playing games on the computer (I'm a bad, bad mother,) was bouncing off the walls after dinner, and the snack that he requested 30 minutes after dinner was over.

(I gave in, but I had a secret...carbs. I fed him all carbs. Dinner, and snack. Carbs. HA!)

I convinced him to pick out some books and come snuggle with Corben and I in the big bed. We'd read. He'd keep bouncing. Eventually, something would give.

Corben conked in a milk drunk stupor.

Griffin and I read 4 books (one up from our usual three,) and he bounced and bounced and bounced around until about 6 minutes after the last book ended, when he threw his arm around me and said "Mama, I just wanna snuggle with you," and passed out cold.

And at 8:06 I posted this picture to Twitter, and proclaimed it a sign that I was to head up to my sewing room and sew:
I had already been in my sewing room today to start and finish a little project that I got into my head, a blanket for my cousin who's shower is in a few weeks. The best thing about having a stash is being able to whip off last minute projects at random, like these:

Shower blankey: And another blanket/changepad thingy I whipped up last week, combined with an excuse to show off the cutest baby on the planet, made extra cute by the accentuation of the Thunder thighs by the BabyLegs:
Anyway, back to my story about the light shining from the heavens and what not...

So by 8:10, cold beverage in hand, I was in my sewing room, turning this:
into a quilt.

Hot damn if I didn't get it all cut, and 12 squares pieced. It needs some sashing , and the top is done. Go me.

By 9:30 I was (back) here, at the computer. I've been chatting with friends, answering emails, christmas shopping, finishing my drink, hushing children, nursing babies, and blogging for the past 2 hours, all of which was delightful.

And now I'm going to hit publish, and crawl into bed.

And that, my friends, is what I call a successful evening.

G'night!

Creativity Bootcamp, Day 6-7-8

Day 6: Fluid:

This was a cheat...faced with the daunting task of doing 3 squares today, I came across this square that I had started a while back for another project, and abandoned. "Hey, it looks kind of fluid-y" I though, with all that water. And thus, fluid. I'd like to take another crack at it.
Day 7: Fly:

This is nice, but feels a bit "safe" to me - I've used this technique a lot - outlining various fabrics to create a picture. (Most notably, my favourite version of this technique, can be seen here.) I feel like I've mastered this, so going back to it feels like I'm not getting the most out of this. I REALLY need to find that book that Steve got me, that inspired this all in the first place.

Day 8: Ornament.

This is a Celtic Tree of Life: "The ancient Celts believed all living things were spiritual, mystical beings, not just inanimate objects to be exploited. They believed trees in particular were a source of great wisdom with the power to bridge the gap between the upper and lower worlds and bring blessings from the gods. "

What the hell does that have to do with ornament, you ask?

Well, this particular tree is my very own ornament - it's the tattoo that I have on my back.
I'll be taking a break for a few days for other adventures, see you in a few!

Creativity Bootcamp, Day Five

I had this square in my head ever since the start of Bootcamp, and I was just waiting for the opportunity to do it.

I'm really happy with the way it turned out, which is a nice switch from yesterday's tank-fest. It was nice to use some appropriate border fabric to frame up the "picture" area, and to keep the picture area really simple.

I've learned that the quilt as you go method I had in mind doesn't work so well for these little picture squares.

Today's word: Growth.

I think I have.

(Grown. Not a growth.)

Creativity Boot Camp, Day Three

To be honest, I started on this one a little late. Like an hour ago late. But I also had in my head exactly the way it was going to go. And it did. And I love it when that happens!

Today's word: multi-layered.

I thought about creating a literal "picture" for this, but then thought "nah, I'm working with fabric...this is practically a gimmie!"

So I multi-layered it. And multi-textured it. And maybe when it's not 10:30, I'll go back in and add some more colourful stitching too.

But for now, this is multi-layered in my little quilty world!

Creativity Boot Camp, Day Two

This was fun, but I may need to rethink this a bit...this little tiny square took FOR-EV-ER!

Today's word: Picnic.
I need to give the table itself a little more love. I left it unstitched on purpose, but it looks terribly out of place with everything else being accentuated with stitching.

The tree turned out completely different from how I had it in my head, but I kind of love it, so that's OK!
I'd like to add some more colour in the bottom right hand corner of this square, to balance it out a bit. Maybe later...

Tomorrow, must simplify a bit! (Even though this wasn't that complicated!)

Creativity Boot Camp, Day One

I have a feeling that I may be INSANE, tacking another thing on my daily to do list, but we'll give it a shot.

When I first saw this Boot Camp badge, I was intrigued. Boost my creativity? Well sure I'm interested. And there's something particular that I'm interested in learning how to do.

I like taking pictures, but I don't have a good camera right now. What I enjoy about pictures though is the composition. The colours. I want to make better pictures, but I don't want to do it with my camera.

I want to do it with my sewing machine.

I want to learn how to draw pictures with my sewing machine.

Ever since Steve gave me a book (that's packed away right now, so I can't tell you what it's called) it's been something in my mind that I want to do.

Until this morning I didn't know exactly how I was going to make sewing work for this project. Or how I was going to conquer an entire "project" each day. And then it came to me this morning.

A quilt square. A 10" square, totally manageable. One each day. Nothing too complicated, but something that forces me to CREATE, pictures specifically, with my sewing machine. I'm going to make it into a wall hanging at the end, putting all the pieces together, quilting as I go, and not caring about the backs. This is all about the front!

Today's word was IVORY.

Here's what I made:
Lessons learned today? Never, ever, ever, EVER use a piece of linen in a quilt square. NEVER.

Looking forward to seeing what tomorrow brings!

Make a Baby Hammock

I've been thinking about doing this for a while now. Corben is one of those babies that sleeps best with a little movement. In the sling, in the car, in the swing. However, the swing isn't coming camping with us, or anywhere else that we're going on holidays, and I thought it would be nice to have something that we could use ANYWHERE, that packs up nice and light. It also feels nicer, a bit more natural than a battery operated thing-a-ma-jig (and D batteries ain't cheap!) It has the added bonus that EVERY TIME baby stirs, it sets the hammock in motion again and rocks them back to sleep.

These are SUPER SIMPLE to make:

(Apologies in advance for my not-so-sexy diagrams, and my crappy point and shoot pictures...I want my camera back!!!)

You'll need 3 yards of material, with a 45" width. Most I've seen had them with plain muslin, but the muslin I had here was a funny width, so I used this cotton instead.

Fold your fabric in half lengthwise (WRONG sides together if you're using a print) and sew the 2 ends together.


Measure 14 1/2 inches from your first seam, and sew a second one.

What you have now is a large circle of fabric, with a little bit of a "tail."

Press your large seam to one side, turn under the raw edge, and sew it down. Basically what you're doing here is making a large french seam - you've made a circle of fabric, with three layers of fabric at the bottom of it. On your 14" wide bottom, decide where baby's head is going to go, and thus, where his feet will go (ie: pick a top and a bottom.) On the head end, from about 8" on either side of your 14" sandwich, fold down about 3/4" of fabric and sew down, creating a channel for some elastic. Insert the elastic, stitch down on one end, and then gather the fabric down to about 6" total. (This seems like a lot of gathering, but it'll hang better this way, and baby's head will be slightly elevated.) Sew the other end of the elastic down. Trim off the excess.
On the foot end we're going to sew some ties. I used bias tape, and just stitched it closed. For each tie, I used 13" of tape, and just knotted the end.

Find the centre of the foot end. Mark of 4", 8", and 12" from this centre point, in either direction. Sew on your ties.
(I do know how to measure, I didn't realize my tape had slipped when I went to take the picture!)

And now, the pillow.

I used a cheap piece of foam from Walmart, but I'm going to get something a little sturdier. I'm also not satisfied with the size of it, but if your babe is just a newborn, it might be fine.

I'm going to get something from Fabricland and have it cut 14" by 30". You can make a simple pillowcase for your foam, or cover it with a changing pad cover (similar to a crib sheet with the elastic all the way around.) Either way, don't make it permanent, chances are you're going to want to wash this at some point!

Next you'll need a 2 foot long piece of 1" by 3". I used oak, because it's what was cheapest in the hardwood selection. You could use maple too, or likely even a cheaper piece of pine, but I wanted the sturdiness that the hardwood offered. Cut a "U" shape notch in each end, mine is about 3/4" wide and 1 1/2" into the wood. Comme ca:

Now, for assembly! I hung my hammock on the top end of a Jolly Jumper. The spring gives it some bounce, and the clip for the door frame is terribly handy. However, if you don't have a Jolly Jumper hanging around, I understand that you can get springs at Canadian Tire. You can grab some chain there too, and whatever sort of hardware you need to attach the whole shebang together - some combo of carabiners and quick-links.

You'll need a nice sized carabiner to hang at the centre of your hammock. Thread the fabric into the carabiner. I tied another piece of bias tape around the fabric under the carabiner to give it a bit more stability. Thread the fabric into your "U" shaped slots in the wood. Again, another bias tape tie around the wood and the fabric. (I saw a few versions that had these ties sewn on, but I'd recommend not doing that until you see how your hammock hangs and you figure out exactly where you want them.) Insert Baby. Bounce. He sleeps, you blog, everyone wins!

(I'm going to sink a nice big eye hook somewhere on the porch outside too, so he can sleep ourdoors too when we're out there.)(Information gathered from a whole bunch of places...mostly from this blog and this forum, but I also took a look at these few pictures of what's available to buy.)

With the exception of the $5.00 piece of maple, I had all I needed for this project hanging out in my house. However, even if you have to buy everything, you're looking at a maximun of about $50.00 I figure. Heck of a savings from the $200.00 hammocks you can buy in stores!

Finally: Sewing Room Love

My poor poor sewing room has been in shambles for weeks now. I decided it needed a reorganize, and promised myself I wouldn't sew anything until it was finished all good and proper like.

And then I stuck to my promise. And didn't sew for weeks. And weeks.

But now? Now it is done. And it? It is a thing of beauty!

There is so much organization happening in this room, I hardly know what to do with myself!

For a very long time, I've been wanting a cabinet with glass doors to store my fabric in, so I could SEE it all. However, I realized recently that it wasn't going to happen anytime soon, so I went foraging in our basement for something to do the trick for now.
What I found was some IKEA shelves (we have bajillions of the things lying around here) so I got busy with them.

I wrapped the shelves in muslin and put a curtain on them to keep the dust out. The final result is a bit wobbly, but will certainly do the trick for now. And the best part? There is still ROOM on those shelves, people! Sing it with me - Fa-bric-land, FABRICLAND!

Organizing all my fabric by colour has inspired me to do a version of this:
Insane? Quite likely. But I'm going to do it. Or die trying!

Proved the circle quilt doesn't kill me, I can finally get around to finishing some projects that I had started eons ago, like giving this little quilt top here a back. The last thing I want to do in the room is to put up a quilt design wall...I just did a little trolling on the internets, and it seems that I have the supplies that I need to do it here. I was going to get all fancy with cork tiles, but it's SO not necessary! I think a little foam insulation and some diaper flannel will do the trick just fine!
And, last but certainly not least, introducing my new favourite sewing room accessory:
Isn't he the cutest??!!!

Pink Lives!

Tonight, I sewed.

Wanna know what I made?

Something for....MYSELF! (How wicked awesome is that??)

You see, ever since we found out we were pregnant again, I had visions of shopping for any and all things PINK at Fabricland. When we found out that this baby was not of the pink variety, my lust for girly fabric flew out the window.

But not really.

It never really dissapeared, this lust.

And then, the other night, I had an ephipany.

I am a girl. ME!

Who the heck is to say I can't buy fuzzy pink fabric and make fuzzy pink things for ME!

So I did. And when I walked into Fabricland this week, and saw the pink fluffy heaven on earth fabric on sale for HALF PRICE, I knew it was fate.

So, tonight I made the biggest, fuzziest, pinkest blanket that you've ever seen. And then I wrapped myself in it, and tried to take an artful photograph of the fuzzy goodness, along with the landscape that is my belly, to show it all off.

What I got was a photo of a mostly out of focus belly, an out of focus fuzzy pink blanket that actually looks orange, and a dog looking bored with the whole thing. But whatever. I'm wrapped up in the best blanket I've ever owned and I couldn't care less!

How I spent my Friday Night

One quilt. Started at 8:00pm. Finished (with the exception of hand stitching the binding) at 10:37. Just another wild night here in the big town!

Blustery Night

It is a very blustery day, shaping up to be a very blustery night. Inside and out.

It is the end of a long week here on the Roof. Griffin, fresh from a full week of school and daycare, is a red hot mess. He hasn't napped today. He slept in this morning (that's how I KNOW something is wrong.) He hasn't had a decent poop in a week. He is alternating between complaining about his belly hurting (that would be the no poop thing) and his tongue hurting (I have no idea what that's about.) I haven't the first clue about what to do with him, aside from put his cranky little butt to bed.

I came home and decided to sew. Griffin took offence to this, and won't let me be upstairs for more than 5 minutes before he starts screaming my name. Tonight, for once this week, he goes to bed and I stay up and have a little bit of me time. Yup, that's right, ME. All me. Complete with hot chocolate, candles, and sewing, rounded off with a cup of tea when I'm done sewing, and a book. Oh, and maybe even a bath!

Steve comes home this weekend, and is bringing with him a nasty cold that he's picked up in the past day, and a big bag of dirty laundry. But he's coming HOME, and that's all that really matters to me. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to our little family being all together again, for a long long while.

*****************
Took a little break there to put the kid to bed. After a massive battle involving pillow placement, that involved plenty of tears and a few well placed smacks to the arm (him, smacking me) Griffin took about 7.56 seconds to fall asleep. And that's my cue to sew. I may be back later with pictures to share - I plan on this little project taking a grand total of 2 hours.

Have a lovely evening!

Making my day!

On Wednesday I came home, after a 2 hour drive in the show, and feeling a little like yuck, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a big box waiting for me when I got home. It was my Apron Swap Package, and before I even had the thought to take photos WHILE I unwrapped it, I tore into it like a woman starved!

This was the BEST. SWAP PACKAGE. EVER!!

There was a whole whack of goodies - a tea towel, some muffin cups, a heart shaped baking tray (this was a valentines themed swap, in case you haven't guessed by now!) The sassy red spatula Steve scooped immediately. The fluffy pink socks I put on immediately. Ummm.....aloe infused socks? I had never heard of such a thing. But peeps? Consider me converted! These are the most comfortable socks EVER!

And of course there was chocolate. A lot more than actually made it to picture time!

To go along with the muffin cups, there was a FANTASTIC looking recipe for mini cheesecakes, which I was nice enough to photograph up close so y'all could make some too!Then, these ADORABLE quilted pot holders. Don't you just love them? And then, there is the apron. Can I tell you how completely and totally in love with this apron I am? It's double sided, and very similar to the Emmeline Apron, which I have been coveting for a LONG time! I totally LOVE it! My swap package came from Shannon in Utah, and she had stopped by our little home here on the interwebs, and seen the adorable little blond that hangs out here, and decided to make him an apron too!Griffin was SO excited that there was an apron for him as well, and set to work immediately in his kitchen. He prepared us the most elaborate meal ever, and then cried when I made him take it off at bed time. He also insisted on wearing it to daycare the next day! (Amazing how much cleaner a child's clothes are when he's been wearing an apron all day. Hmmm...I may be onto something here!)Thank you, thank you Shannon! You have made one little boy, and his Mama, very happy campers!!(Wanna see what I made for my partner? It's over here.)

A very quilty weekend.

(Well, hello! Long time no see! I'll spare you the excuses, you've heard them all. Heck, you've probably USED them all! You know - working, sleeping, eating, the occasional (some may say a little TOO occasional) shower, etc etc etc. Lets just get on with it, shall we?)

So after a busy week, and a fun Friday night in the city with Kendra, I headed back here on Saturday morning. With NO plans on the horizon (that's right, not a ONE!) save for the company of my Ma for the weekend, I seized the opportunity to get quilty with it yesterday. Having an extra pair of hands in the house, and a 3 hour nap by Griffin made the day INCREDIBLY successful. This morning I scooched back downstairs for a bit, and polished 'er off. That's right - one quilt, complete, in less than 24 hours! Okay, okay, it's a baby quilt. It's small. SO???

The binding still needs to be stitched on, but I'm more in the mood to blog than sew right now. Plus, sewing binding is a very ritualistic thing for me, that always involves alcohol and trashy television (90210 is best) on my computer, while sitting in bed, and I'm not quite ready to crawl into bed yet, seeing as it's only 3 o'clock in the afternoon. (Often I am MORE than ready to hide my head under the covers by this time of day, but today, I'm not.)

Since the quilt is still in my living room, and hasn't been shipped off to it's recipients yet, I'm not going to show it to you here. However, if you're dying to see it, and your name is NOT Julia or Rafa, then you may click on this linky-poo to see it. If your name IS Julia or Rafa, NO CLICKING. Besides, you kids should be waaay to busy pushing out a baby to be surfing the net!

Since I remembered AFTER cutting about 1/2 of the little squares that I was going to strip piece the quilt (which, if you're not familiar with quilting, has less to do with quilting with no clothes on, and more to do with sewing with long strips of fabric and then cutting it all apart) I had a whole bunch of little squares of fabric leftover. I decided to take pity on someone I feel VERY VERY sorry for: Widdle Dude. Because the life of a Widdle Dude in our house? It's a hard knock life. It's a cold, cold life. Nobody plays with you, people push crackers and Lego around in your stroller before they even THINK of taking you for a ride!

So now at least Widdle Dude is warm, under a fancy new Widdle Dude sized quilt. Neglected still, but maybe a tiny bit less so. I'm thinking about making him a teddy bear next...poor little guy!

(P.S. Can I brag about some other brilliance for a second? Today, around nap time, Griffin and I had our customary weekend fight, that goes a little something like this: "ME NO WANNA LAY DOWN! NO NAP! NOT TIRED!" Rub eyes. Annnnnnd repeat. So then came the brilliance. We had lunch, and then proceeded to lay down on the couch with a pillow and a blanket and a show on the DVD player, not for "nap" time, but for "quiet time." Quiet time is what Griffin has the other 5 days a week, when he's not busy fighting me, at daycare. They snuggle up on and around the couch with pillows and blankets, and all fall asleep with some asinine blather highly educational programming coming from Treehouse TV in front of them. Dudes, it worked! I figured why not go with what works 5 days a week elsewhere? I'm surprised it took us this fricking long to figure that out. Now, if only we could figure out this night time business, we'd be laughing!)

Get'cher Crowns!

In an attempt to clear out all the crowns I have in stock, I've listed them in my shop on Etsy.

Go check it out! Get 'em now for christmas!

Sassy Apron Swap

For the first time ever, I participated in the Sassy Apron Swap. This is a 4 times/year event, and I'm thrilled to discover it! I am patiently awaiting my apron in the mail...

My apron arrived at it's destination yesterday, and I'm so glad that it's found a happy home, and that it's new owner is so excited about it! I was pretty impressed with how it turned out, so I'm glad she likes it too!

Wanna see what I made? Head over to Oliver Rain, and check it out!

Rejuvinate

I have had the most wonderful, most rejuvenating-est day. EV-ER!

As previously mentioned, Steve is off in the big city, film festivaling. As previously not mentioned, Griffin is also off, Grandma and Grandpa-ing for the weekend.

(As an aside - Steve's parents have said that they would like to take Griffin for one weekend a month. He sleeps at night for them, and if he's up early it doesn't matter, because generally they're up that early anyway. He eats well. He's cute. They love having him. We love having some "adults only" time. It's pretty much win-win all around! While I kind of miss the hell out of the little devil while he's gone, I also kind of don't, in a way that good mothers aren't supposed to talk about!)

Anywho, Steve is in the city, and I was supposed to be at work today, hence the perfect timing on the Grandma-Grandpa weekend. But last night at 8pm we finished up the work that was supposed to go into Saturday, and I found myself at Montana's, drinking beer and eating ribs with some pretty cool peeps from my work, and no one to hurry home to!

So what's a gal to do?

Well, sleep in for starters!

I was actually woken at 7:30 this morning (still a MAJOR sleep-in!) by the OTHER baby in the house, the one that doesn't have a diaper to pee in, but needs you to get OUT of bed to open the door for him so he can go outside. Whatev. He peed, we all went back to bed, it was all good.

9:30 rolled around, we woke for the second time. Got up. Made coffee. Puked (dog.) Broke a glass (me.) Took a deep breath (all.) Started again.

I buried myself in the basement today, with the goal of making 10 crowns for the Hooplah show that's coming up in a few weeks.

I got to 8 complete, with 3 more part way started, and decided I had enough of crowns.

Time to break, and head into the arduous task of cooking dinner. Can I tell you how much of a chore it is to cook these days? I HATE IT!! I admit I am fully 100 percent totally completely and utterly SPOILED that my husband cooks for me every single day. He's gone, and I go back to eating like I'm in university. A banana and a muffin for breakfast. Kraft Dinner for lunch. And dinner? Well....

Yeah, yeah, whatever. I had a handful of tomatoes from the garden too...that TOTALLY makes it a healthy meal!

I had a nice chance to take a little wander about the property to see how thing were growing. Turns out, pretty well.! I've saved a few pictures of the veg-tastic-ness that is happening in my garden for a later post, but here's a few shots of the blooms in bloom.

A little packet of seeds that I sprinkled under the old weather vane that has gone ballistic:

Hollyhocks bigger than the house!!WET hollyhocks, bigger than the house!After my little wander, it was back into the depths of the basement, to work on a project that I have been thinking about for weeks. A bag, all for me. I was planning on this being a stash-buster, all from what I had in house. Then I went to the quilt store in town this afternoon, and fell in love with a little pile of fat quarters that would not stop CALLING MY NAME!! So I obliged them, took them home, and here's what they ended up as:

HELL-O!!! Can you say UBER-BAG?? I am so totally thrilled with this bag! It's a bit smaller than I had in my head, but what-ev-er!! It's totally sexy, and if I ever get some clothes that fit, I will be styling on the streets this fall!

It comes complete with pockets galore. One custom fit to my cell phone. One wallet-keys-ever essential Sharpie-pocket.

And. AND!! Can you say zippered pocket!!! Complete with coordinating fabric?? Because a bag with nowhere to hold loose change is no bag of mine!
Even went over the top and quilted the strap!
Many thanks to Erin at BlueBirdBaby for her Everything Bag Tutorial.

So now it's midnight. And gosh-darnit, I'm tired!

I am grateful for these days. I am happy to have the time to relax and rejuvenate. I am also very much looking forward to the homecoming of my husband tomorrow, and seeing my (not so) baby boy tomorrow afternoon!

It's true what they say: Absence - she does indeed make the heart grow fonder.

"They" also say that you don't know what you got till it's gone.

I disagree.

I have the most wonderful, loving, caring husband in the world, and the cutest, cuddliest 2 year old (!!!) y'all ever did see. And I can't wait to see them both tomorrow!

Hope you had a rejuvenating weekend too!