Seeing Red

Not that I DESERVE one, but I've been coveting an Epiphanie! camera bag since I first saw one on someone's blog (can't remember who).  If I came across enough spare coinage, I might splurge and buy one. But for now, I just covet.

See, they are LOVELY, and BEAUTIFUL, and NOT AT ALL camera bag-like. (you'll have to click on the link to see a picture). The designer, Maile Wilson, is a professional photographer who would take her camera and "traditional" camera bag to photo shoots, but very rarely with her on personal outings, resulting in a shameful few family photos. She just hated carrying her camera bag! Feeling guilty about so few personal pictures, she started looking around, but just couldn't find a bag that would protect her camera while still looking like a hot handbag.

So she set about to design her own. Three bags (and a few in the hopper) later, and they are hotter than the tarmac at Hartsfield in August!

As I said above, I don't deserve one of these lovely bags -- I barely ever take my camera off Auto, for Pete's sake!

...BUuuuT...

Beyond Snapshots is having a contest and giving away one Lola Epiphanie bag. It's the red one. That looks so soft. And supple. And fashionable. And hip. And trendy. Mmmmm.....yummmy....

The contest is to post a photo that represents "red" to me.  Well, I do love red. I enjoy red. I would like to decorate certain rooms in my house with red. (someday).

But for now, whenever I think of "red" I think of THIS shade of red:

The contest runs through April 2nd, with the winner announced April 3rd. And while I would SO totally love to win the bag for myself (thus, hesitating to tell you all about the contest, lest you win instead of me!), I decided to be a good girl and tell you about it, so you can hurry up and enter, too, and maybe someone I know will win the bag! Which would be almost as stupendous as winning it for myself. :o)

What's "red" to you?

Which One, Which One??

I need input.

I can't decide which to use for Mookie's Easter basket.

Elmo is, of course, her first love. So an Elmo basket filled with goodies will be, like, the gift that keeps on giving, right?

But then, that purple one was just too darling!  It's actually a "wearable tutu" basket!  On Easter Monday, we can untie the tutu from the basket and wrap it around Mookie's "tubby".  And, HELLO...what little girlie doesn't love a tutu around her tubby?  And she loves baskets in general, so she'd love and use and carry the purple basket darn near everywhere!

So, what say you? Elmo or Tutu?  Even if you don't want to leave a comment, you can email me with what you think.

(Dave is NO help whatsoever in this department!)  :o)

Maybe I Should Just Teach Her To Lick The Spatula

I tried something new today.

Something wild and a little bit crazy.

I offered Mookie some peanut butter with her apples.

I know, I went way out on a limb there, didn't I? :o)

I know I'm very fortunate to have a total fruit lover for a child. I don't often have to tell her to eat her apple/cantelope/berries/pear/etc.

Until today. Mookie LOVED the "dip-dip" with her apples. In fact, after a few bites, she just skipped eating the apple altogether, and licked the peanut butter off the apple wedge directly.

look at those curls :o)

I'm not sure my couch was the best place to take this adventure...

just give me the spatula, Mommy!

yucky fingers, Mommy! 

(yucky everything, Baby!)

oh, the concentration...

dip-dip, lick, dip-dip, lick, more?

In the end, I am confident that most of the peanut butter got into her tummy (YAY!!), and a good bit got on her face and hands, and only a teeny smidge or two got onto the couch. 

Pretty successful snack-time, if you ask me!

Sweet, Sweet Bowties

When we went to San Diego a few weeks ago, we stopped at a tiny little cottage quilt shop on the way home. I wasn't really that impressed with their fabric selection, but I did find a few inspirational pieces that I sneakily snuck iPhone photos of. :o)

I don't know how to download them here. Nor does it matter. What matters is that I have already made one of them! :o)

We've all seen the fleece tie-a-knot blankets, right? Yeah. 2005 is calling, and wants its craft-fad back. I will admit, however, that they are stinkin' easy, and snuggly warm. And I'll also admit that I've made a few.

One thing I don't particularly like about them is that tying the knots HURTS. MY. WRISTS. And I think cutting the strips does, too. But I know tying the knots hurts. For days. :-(  And since I don't really like doing things that hurt (umm, pregnant, anyone?), I don't really make these anymore.

The fleece-makers of the world, however, do not seem to know (or care) that I don't like to make these blankets, and they have the nerve to continue to make adorable fleece! Dang them.

And since I have been feeling rather less-than-accomplished with my crafting ventures, and since I need to feel like I have, you know, completed a task every now and then, I decided to take some time (about an hour and a half, to be exact) over the weekend and try my hand at making one of these new-fangled, no-sew fleece blankets. And will likely make more.

I would like to say, before I go on, that I didn't see a pattern for sale for this idea, nor did I see any kind of sign claiming intellectual property on it. So I am only sorta-kinda stealing the idea. And I refuse to feel guilty about it. (Unless someone comes along and tells me what I've done is illegal.) (And then I will point them to Etsy and ask what that's all about!)

And so, without further ado, I give you The Sweet, Sweet Bowtie Blankie.

 The finished blanket (30x36"-ish)

A close-up of one bow.

I think the bowties are too sweet for a blanket for a baby boy - do you? And, sadly for me, of the (wait, lemme count 'em) SIX (or is it 8?) pregnant women I know, I am the only one gestating a girl. Wait, no. Make that 9. NINE baby boys. One girl.  Competition is gonna be fierce for my girl in 28 years, no?

So I don't see me making any of these for the baby boys I know. And as much as I planned to save this one for Sprout, Mookie kinda sorta already thinks it's her "ni-ni binkie". So, it looks like I might be using the other half yards to make one for Sprout. Again. :o)  Good thing it was easy!

Do you want a tutorial, or are you satisfied with just a photo? Lemme know. It wasn't really that hard...I mean, I figured it out, and I'm 18 kinds of stupid with this pregnant brain of mine, so I know you can, too. It's just that if I did a tutorial, I could give you a few tips on things I would do differently next time.Plus, if I do a post with the tutorial, then you'll get to see what kind of lame goofiness I can create with an expensive camera. :o)

Helpful, No?

After naptime, I left Mookie's dress off. Some things are just not worth the fight, you know?

Well, a little while later, there was a sweet little girly, running around, dressing herself.

 

I thanked her for putting her dress back on, but when I told her it was backwards, she got up and started walking.

Backwards.

'Fess Up Fridays - Beat The Babies (Wk 9)

Two more blocks done.

Mookie fixing the block...milliseconds before she wadded it up again. :o)

AND...I went to the LA Modern Quilt Guild meeting on Monday night. WHAT A TREAT!!!

On a side note, I saw a picture of myself on their website... I think I hear Stacy and Clinton coming up the walk to hand me my tail on a platter because I am clearly a candidate for the next episode of 'What Not To Wear'...and if there was a show called 'What Not To Do With Your Hair' I'm sure I'd be on that one, too. I need to put down the quilt blocks and hurry myself down to the nearest salon and have them work some magic!

Wait. Three blocks done. I forgot about the one I made yesterday.

Back to the MQG. The meeting was really inspirational, and motivating, and intimidating, and fun. :o)  I've decided to join a virtual quilting bee (I'm not sure what that means, but it sounds fun!). And we're/they're making a quilt for a raffle for a fundraiser, and I volunteered to make a quilt block for that, too. I think I can do one block for them! If they wanted volunteers to make whole quilts, I'd be slithering out the back door quick-like, but a block? I think I can do that. :o)

Sadly, I'm not sure I'll be able to go to too many more meetings. Dave has an incredibly important meeting the day after each monthly meeting, so he has to work late. And the MQG meetings are WAY up in LA, and I have to leave before Mookie goes to bed and I'm not sure who would take care of her and put her to bed, etc. :-( 

Being a mama is all about sacrifices.

Speaking of being a mama...we had another ultrasound this week, and the conversation was all about the alien. It pretty much shadowed every possible good picture of Sprout's little face. :-(  Mean alien.

I think that's a hand over there on the left of the shadow. And I think that's her little head on the right. Who knows. Well, the doctor knows. That's why we go to him...because he knows! :o) 

And speaking of babies, Angela is still gestating her little one. So I've still got more time to finish the quilt! (Yeah, right! Hallucinate much, Mama?)

Oh, speaking of the QUILT...the whole point of this series...I am definitely enjoying making it. I am definitely loving the process (and I am generally NOT a lover-of-the-process, NOT a lover-of-the-journey...I'm an end-result girl).  But this is fun! Really! There's no tedium, no boredom, no routine, no predictability...each block is purposely different from the rest, and we (the quilt and me) are just meandering our way to the finish line. Unfortunately, I do feel that it's important to complete the quilt, you know, eventually, so we can't meander too much! :o)

I hope you all have a great, productive, sunshiney weekend!