(above: one of the rabbits I made for Easter gifties, finally got her picture!)
What a deliciously crafty time I've been having! I finished my brother's Christmas present, finally! E is ready to have it gone! And I agree, but for different reasons, once it's gone to it's rightful owner it can begin it's loving life with him! Crochet blankies are made to be loved!
Here it is! 6 pounds of Caron's natural fiber one pounder skeins! Phew, it's heavy too! But oh so soft. It was so long I couldn't get high enough to get it all in the frame. When I went outside the green (Kelly Green) was so dark next to the grass it mostly blended in.
But Mabel appreciated it. I don't think I've ever had a project that I've laid out and not had one of the corgis lay on it. Only the family projects though, if they're gifts I chase those lazies away! It's an Irish flag (obviously) blanket. I'm Irish and come from a strong line of them, but after marrying E I can proudly proclaim I'm Croatian! Little A was built to be tough, but how can someone so pretty be so strong? It's a mystery, that's for sure! But anyway, I knew from the moment I decided to make my bro a blanket it was going to be the Irish flag.
May first was my niece's, who is also my goddaughter, second birthday, and aunt Tabby had a very special present in mind. Of course it was going to be homemade, duh! But what? Crochet or quilt? QUILT! It had to be girly and pretty, pink and purple, but what pattern? I thought I would make hearts from the pink an purple and combine them with the green. But the hearts were oh so terrifying! So much cutting and piecing. It gave me heart palpatations just thinking about it! But then it came to me, a nine-patch!
No wait, better yet, a disappearing nine-patch! You make a nine-patch, first cutting all the squares, piecing them together, then cut them apart again!
Then you rearrange the pieces again and sewing them all together again. Intense, I know!
I made 12 squares that looked just like this one and sewed all the squares in the same sequence. This created what I call a "floating box" design. Pretty isn't it? Then after I sewed all the squares into strips and the strips into a quilt top I was ready for the backing and basting.
I basted and quitled a line, hated it, tore it out, basted and quitled again, and was happy. Then I made a truck load of binding.
I mean, A LOT! Then I binded the quilt, all with my machine, sewed in all the ends, and 'twas done! Yes! Go me! Two days before the birthday and party!
Needless to say, I polished my nails on my lapel and handed it over with a look of much satisfaction to my niecy who loves it to pieces!
What a great quilting adventure that was! It was almost as much fun telling the story as it was living it.
Enough of my crafty stories! Little A got her hair did by my friend, Megan, who also gave me a much needed hair trim! I didn't have enough courge, or is it patients?, to sit little A down and pull her hair back into piggies. So flipping sweet! She also got her ears piercedon Monday. The doctor who did it, not our normal doc, told us her ear lobes were great! And as we were leaving, after fussying for being held down but not even a flinch when her ears were pierced, I overheard the doc tell our nurse what a beautiful baby little A is. I'm bias when it comes to A so I know she's beautiful, but how it melts a mother's heart with pride to hear someone else exclaim the same! All you moms know what I be sayin'!
The little gold studs have caused her no problems and look so cute on her!
Besides all that, the hubbub has been minimal! I'm started some new projects, but that's nothing new, and had a super nice second mothers day thanks to E and little A. My garden barrels are full of my favorite flowers that I get to look at everyday thanks to them! And the hummingbirds and Baltimore Orioles are hitting up the nectar feeders we have out for them. There's nothing as exciting as catching a glimpse of an Oriole sitting proudly on your deck, or hearing his croaking frog call from the trees telling you to go away so he can eat without you seeing. Or hearing the chittering and buzz of a little hummingbird who are a lot braver than you may think! All exciting times when spring finally! reaches Kansas.
Until next time!
Edited to add: I had just come out after putting little A to sleep thinking how sad I was that I didn't have a picture of my oriole to show you. When I came into the kitchen he was literally tapping on my kitchen window!
Do you see him? So beautiul! He stayed and chittered at the hummingbird feeder for a good 3-5 minutes. What a thing to make your day!
I would also like to say congratulations to Daffny A. for winning the star garland! I'll be sending that out soon to you! Have a great oriole, or Oreo if you prefer, filled day!
Tabby,
ReplyDeleteWas searching for a GF's blog and came across yours. Started reading and came across your post about about having your baby dd's ears
pierced. I think you were a smart mommy for piercing your dd’s ears early. I also agree with your ped how adorable she looks w/little earrings:)
Admittedly, I know a lot of people have strong feelings when to pierce a child’s ear. “Let them decide” is being replaced by parental
decision when mommy intuition knows, “earlier is better” from either personal or friend’s experiences of unpleasant childhood ear piercing.
I think it just depends on your own personal choice whether or not you wish your baby or little girl to have pierced ears.
Initially, I was unsure too, but asked our ped for her opinion about having our dd's ears pierced. She reached in her pocket and took out a picture of her six month little girl with gold balls in each ear, saying," ...this is what I think." She encouraged me to go ahead and said it was best as an infant when mommy could care for them. She has never had a toddler with a pierced ear infection, but has had quite a few older girls ages 4-8 who said they wanted it done, but failed to care for them. She gave me some " Care Tips for Newly Pierced Ears " since she had so many moms ask about having their infants and little girls ears pierced.
Like you, I was unsure how she'd do when I took Sandi to have her ears pierced. I know cerebrally, as mothers of girls of all ages, we know it celebrates their femaleness and femininity. After all, they are little girls, right? Growing up I remember many of my little girlfriends were not allowed to get their ears pierced. I could never understand it…but when their parents did finally let them, it
always seemed they’d get infected because they were constantly touching them or trying to change out the earrings before they were supposed too.
Congrats on making a great decision on behalf of your dd. She'll thank you later for the "gift of pierced ears" as an infant. If you or any mom would like any of our ped’s care tips for infants, then don’t hesitate to write me an e-mail.
Amy
amyswor@hotmail.com
Amy,
ReplyDeletethanks for stopping by and leaving a comment! So far we've had really good luck with Little A's earrings! It'll be a month since they've been done on Thursday. She doesn't play with them and we clean them often and she hates when I turn them but giving it takes but a second she gets over it pretty fast. Like you mentioned girls who are old enough to want their ears pierced don't always want to take care of them and often get infected. We consulted our pedi before we got it done and he suggested if we weren't comfortable with a salon doing it (like claire's or the like) there were docs in the practice who did it. It was the best possible decision we made in this situation to have te pedi do it. Another reason, though however small of a reason it was, to get it done now was so people would stop calling Little A a boy. Haha, sorry to say it didn't work! No amount of pink or earrings has changed people's perspective on a little hair=little boy. She's getting there though! My main reason for acting now was because they don't have nerve endings in their years until sometime after 2 years, so what little pain they do feel if any is over as quick as it began. Thanks again, Amy! I hope you stop by again sometime!
~Tabby
Tabby,
ReplyDeleteStopped by to see if you'd made a follow up comment to mine. I think you were a smart mommy for having Ms "A's" ears pierced now when you could care for them. Plus, she'll never remember having them done and just grow up with earrings thinking they are a part of her.
Our ped had her dd done at 6 wks and encouraged me to go ahead when she was an infant too. She said if they cry, it is because of being restrained or the noise of the piercing instrument. I didn't know about the lack of nerve endings in their ears till sometime after 2 yrs. Was this something you learned from your ped?
Love her little earrings and thinks she looks very feminine indeed. Not to worry. Admit I like the look of babies and little girls with earrings.
Bet Ms "A" gets lots of compliments on her earrings. Know I get moms stop and ask me all the time about having Sandi's ears pierced early. All wish they had their dd's pierced early too. I try to provide reassurance and support.
Amy
amyswor@hotmail.com