Saturday, April 14, 2012

Dis-Easter (Kinda, but not really)

I hope everyone has had a fantastic week and had a great Easter. My Easter Sunday started out well enough, I ran into a blog called Crochet with Raymond the night before right before I dashed off to bed, and read through Alice's posts during the my nightly feedings with Alyssa. I love the blog! It's colorful and bright, plus Raymond, you're just going to have to check it out or take my word for how wonderful it is! And I finished Alyssa's Easter booties that matched her dress that morning and had managed to dress myself before getting the girls ready. Then disaster struck. Amelia refused to wear her dress and when I snuck it onto her she desperately pulled at it and begged to take it off. Crying and saying, "mommy, off!" No, sweetie, we have to wear it for a little bit. "Mommy, off!?" No, we can change out of it later, we just have to wear it for a little bit. Screaming and crying and begging ensued and mommy put little Amelia into time out for not listening and screaming. Crying is ok, but screaming is not. Not too big of a deal, not something uncommon in our daily life. But then a bigger disaster hit.

The sweet little booties that I made for Alyssa, the one that I had tried in a cream color first and decided that the pink would match better, and tried on one of her feet and determined it would fit, didn't fit the other foot. I tried my best to stay calm and get the bootie on that sweet little big foot, but the more I tried the sweater I got, the more she moved and fussed from being "held" down. It was a nightmare. In dismay I snatched the booties, threw them at the crib and cried in despair to Elliott that our baby had too big of feet. "Can't she just wear socks?" Of course she could! But that ruined the picture of Easter I had in my head. The whole 20 minutes that all of this took place I lost my appetite for Easter. And I love Easter! Then after we were on our way to my in-law's I realized I had left Alyssa's Easter onesie at home with her sun hat. UGH! "Do you want to go back?" Elliott asked. NO! I don't want to go back. If we go back I might lock myself in the bathroom and not come out until dinner.

Then I stared out the window and shed a few angry tears that helped lessen the fire in my tummy. It would be ok, we just had to get there and I would feel better. We stopped at the gas station on the way out and Elliott ran inside to get something. He came out with my new favorite drink, Brisk's sweat ice tea, and one of my favorite little snacks, a nacho flavored slim Jim. Thank you sweetheart, for making me feel better with goodies. How could I be mad after that? He did try his very hardest to keep me collected and make me laugh. He has always been the only person to get me out of the deepest funks. So, we got to my in-law's house and Alyssa wanted to be held, no biggie, and it was rather warm outside so body to body gets warmer. We had to shed the dress before anyone really got to see it, and of course, no pictures were taken of the girls in their dresses together. Years from now when they ask me, "mom, where are all the holiday pictures at from when we were little?" Well, girls, mommy has mommy brain and I can't hardly remember where I leave my shoes let alone remember to bring and/or use the camera. MENTAL NOTE: Get better about using the camera. You'll miss those memories when they're gone.

So, aside from no Easter pictures and me being mad the first part of Easter, and Elliott working that evening, it was a pretty good day. The girls got a nap and I put my feet up and had a few minutes of quiet time, because you know if you have more than one little one down for a nap they take turns actually sleeping, so the overlap is only ever a few minutes. It's a work in progress I assume, or is it always like that? Either way, it's worth it. I can always sleep when they're in school. Right?...

Well, that's about all I have for today, because this has taken me a week to write. My mom was very generous and let me borrow her computer with her internet card. It's nice to be able to see things full screen. I was watching something on YouTube and my eyes started to hurt a little because it was so big and bright! It was a nice change from my little iPhone. I just wanted to give you a peek of my ripple which is fast growing now that I have an itch to finish it so I can cuddle with it. Yep, just in time for summer.
And I leave you with a picture of my two A's, enjoying tummy time together and watching their/Amelia's beloved Puss in Boots. Amelia wrapped her arm around Alyssa and gave her a kiss on the head. Of course it didn't last long, because being two makes you move more often.

Happy Days!

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Some Blankets Revealed

I've been thinking about my poor little blog. I've sadly neglected it over the passed few months, and I really want to fix it up. I hate not having the Internet because I can't do the things I want with my blog through my iPhone. As Puss would say, "it's a curse on my life!" My phone, not my blog. Have you seen Puss in Boots? I really enjoy that movie, so when Amelia asks to watch it for the millionth time I don't roll my eyes and reluctantly say yes like I do with other movies. Such as Alvin and the chipmunks. I wake up to feed Alyssa with those songs swimming around in my head.


She had a small accident the other day. Fell nose first onto the driveway while chasing bubbles. Luckily it's only scratched. When I saw her after it happened I freaked (without causing a scene for Amelia's sake). Her nose was swollen and red but she didn't seem to notice. I asked if it was broken and should we take her to the ER. I touched her nose and she didn't pull away other than in two year old fashion, so I let it go, but still! That kid has more face injuries than a hockey player. And last night she slammed her head on her headboard while jumping on her bed. Resulting in a nice bruise. Ugh!


So because I've been busy lately (I can't imagine with what :-)) I never got the chance to show you my finished projects! I set out to finish certain things before Alyssa was born but some things still didn't make the FO pile. But Elliott's "anniversary" blanket did.


This thing is pretty big, approximately 64"x78". Please excuse the random clutter on the floor. I love the granny stripes! After finishing this I regreted that my blanket was a ripple instead of a granny stripe because it's so heavy and warm and cuddly.


It got Amelia's approval for sure.


This is the ultimate test. I always lay out my finished projects and if either Amelia, Tonka, or Mabel come to sprawl out on it I know I've done a good job. That or they all just do it to get in my way because they want my attention, either way, it's all golden.


I even went ahead and used Lucy's trim idea too. Lucy, from attic 24, is who inspired this creation. Well, actually all of my big projects right now are taken straight from Lucy's tutorials. The granny stripe, the ripple, and the hexie. I owe her. Elliott loves his blanket and takes it with him everywhere he goes. No joke! He sleeps with it at night and then pulls it downstairs with him in the morning and warms up with it in the green chair while Amelia eats pre-breakfast, and I get to catch up on some sleep. I love that he loves it.


And this quilt I finished in Three days, beginning to end. I made it for Meg's little princess for her birthday. I actually finished it the morning of the party and didn't get to wash it before the party. It was well liked at the party and princess M seemed to like it a lot but because it's been so warm I'm not sure if she's used it yet. But soon enough!


It's just shy of 40"x60" and really fun!


I really enjoyed making this quilt, it was fast and relatively inexpensive for a quilt.


Amelia has fun at the party with princess M.


A little too much fun really.


Then I finally finished Amelia's scrappy heart quilt. It had been basted since before Christmas, wait even before Thanksgiving!


I quilted it with two rows of hearts on the top and two on bottom and random squiggly lines in between. I didn't like the hearts because they were super wonky. But once everything was said an done Elliott told me he really liked the quilted hearts, and so did I. They were endearing and lovely really. But it all worked out in the end and it turned out great!


You can sort of see one of the hearts in the bottom right corner. There are five different shades of purple on this quilt. It's rather lovely, if I do say so.


It shares the same green strip that the anniversary quilt has too. A baby quilt an a parent quilt. Cute!


Someone likes it.


She drug it into the kitchen and laid it out to play on it so that's a clue to her liking it so much.


And she well should. It's a nice quilt. Made with a ton of love! I actually really liked this quilt in the end, because as you can remember I didn't always love it.


And the mostly most important thing I had to finish before Alyssa got here was her bobble blankie. She sleeps with it in her bassinet and I tuck in the sides so she can't pull it up over her face. Though that doesn't seem to be the problem, she loves to kick it down.


It's soft and bright and 34"x37". Perfect for a nappy. I've tried covering her with other blankets but she definitely prefers this one. I've managed to squeeze in some hooking on my hexie, about a row and a half, worked about a hexagon at a time, randomly when I can. I've also determined where the end shall be for my ever growing ripply blanket. I'm very excited for that! It's currently downstairs in it's bin and I have a beautiful sleeping babe on my lap, so you'll just have to take my word that it's beautiul too.


Besides all that, we're ready for Alyssa's first Easter. Store bought dresses and all. Hopefully next year I'll make the girls dresses for Easter. I hope you all have a wonderful Easter filled with family, friends, and food.

Happy days!