little BIG pants

my 2nd wind (and 3rd...and 4th...)

since my last post i've experienced days of pure energy and days like today, recovering from an entire night of no sleep due to prelabor contractions (are you all sick of hearing about my lack of progress on the baby front?) well, here's what i've been doing. cleaned out my terrarium. it was full of dirt and a dead orchid. i've decided to not do plantings directly in it. i love this terrarium, again things behind glass- i can't resist!( h has to get in all my pics lately).

i sewed pillow covers for my bench, not sure if i should add another red polka dot one???

h's quilt for his new room (it looks like a wrinkled mess) but all i have left is the fancy edging (wish me luck, its my first time with this).

and finally an h pillow for h's new bed. this was a nightmare as the fusible webbing i used was too thick and kept gumming up my needle and snapping my thread. it also made the zig zags skip? i must have used a kind that didn't recommend sewing. oops! hope to post soon but one never knows with mother nature???

funky red bag

thanks to my great friends, the Z's, in washington d.c. for sending me this ever so funky bag from goorin bros. stuffed with all sorts of goodies a mom needs (wet wipes, hairclips, chapstick, tide-to-go, etc.) cool web site and if my keen eye for all things "brangelina" serves me right, i believe this is where maddox, pax and mr. pitt purchase their hats!!!

thanks b., m., and little a.!!!! I LOVE IT!

the waiting is the hardest part

life at the moment... 
j. works all day, comes home exhausted to an exhausted, very pregnant wife and h. is running around with more energy than all of our oil federal reserves! j. either sticks in a frozen pizza or makes a really delicious gourmet meal of which meat is always the center. i eat cereal and wish i had my appetite back and that food was exciting again. the other night the two boys made a delicious apple pie. life as a 36.5 week pregnant woman seems to have frozen to a halt again (like the first trimester). i walk around feeling not that great, tired and all i can muster is to vacuum once a week (a must with 2 dogs) and keep the laundry going. i thought i was in labor yesterday and spent the morning at the hospital getting checked out and preregistered. had contractions but they were light and far apart so they sent me home, but i'm sure it won't be long.

getting h. prepared by showing him all the stuff he used to wear as a baby and what a big boy he now is. here, he is wearing the hat he wore at the hospital. so cute, with those little curls coming out of the back!

chess and laughs

"chess set" by rachel whiteread.

i came across this piece via design sponge's guest blogger alyson fox's post. it was part of a show entitled "the art of chess" at the luhring augustine gallery in new york. a group of artists all interpreted their take on the classic chess board. i love "themed" shows and what the different artists will come up with. when we lived in seattle we would do a monthly gallery crawl and were always surrounded by art and quirky "themed" shows by fellow grads. who wouldn't love to walk into a gallery space where all artists make pieces inspired by pat benatar! since j. is working full-time and then some as a cabinet maker we are just that much more removed from the whole "art scene" - bummer...

good laughs- watched "blades of glory" last night. so ridiculously funny! and listened to the first little snippet of steven colbert's "i am america (and so can you)" book. completely irreverent and SOOOO FUNNY!

one more baby blanket

since i enjoyed sewing and using my fancy stitches for my sister's receiving blankets, i just had to sew at least one for the new baby. i bought this fabric a while back for h. and didn't realize the patterns were so large, so it lends itself perfectly for a no cut piece. keeping it simple folks!

and just what do you think of this fancy stitch? i'm in love with it! i think it makes it look like an old hanky. i plan on stretching the left over fabric for a wall hanging for h.'s new bedroom. which i hope to bring before and after pics to this very site....soon!

gifts for baby

my good friend l. threw my sister and myself a baby shower and made baby this exquisite quilt. She cranked out two of these beauties!!!


she is so talented and has such a good eye for clean, well thought out designs. over the past few years she has wowed us all with the quilts she makes!

and to out do us all she HAND STITCHES them to make them more beautiful! let's not forget she has two kids running around and works full time! i don't know how you do it l. but you do!

and as an additional bonus a cute little onesie she embroidered! thanks l.!!!!

baby blankets for sis

these are simple receiving blankets using fabric from the denyse schmidt "katie jump rope" line, backed with cream flannel (no lining). i actually got to use a few of my fancy stitches that my huskystar offers for the first time.

the top fancy stitch looks better on the fabric pattern side. aren't the blankets supposed to improve with each sewing. you know, a little straighter stitching not so much puckering...well the exact opposite happened with these puppies???

the flower stitch was my favorite.

this was my last blanket and i got the most puckering from the straight stitch embellishment???  the blankets are for my sister who is due only 5 weeks after me. speaking of me (what else do i talk about on this blog) i imagine the posts will be less frequent as i have 4.5 weeks to go until my due date and the doctor pretty much told me yesterday that i will most likely go early (i will spare all the details). so nesting has been ramped up to a new level, getting everything ready, including for my new niece or nephew!

painter, shepard fairey

painter, shepard fairey, via moco loco art archives. there is so much about this piece i like. the two color- red and cream- reminiscent of old matchboxes; the almost paint-by-number feel; the wall paper-esque background; the fact that this sweet little girl is holding a grenade topped with a rose. good stuff!

diorama photographer, lori nix

inspiration for tuesday! lori nix, photographer, via moco loco. there is a quick video of her take on her work here. i like the fact that she admits she doesn't like leaving her studio to take photos, so she creates the work inside. good stuff...