when all else fails...plan.

20 piles of color planning.

i missed the president's state of the union address. oops. total fail. i could watch a recording of the speech, but i think i will opt for getting the NPR recap and reading the relevant new york times articles. my apologies mr. president. it is not that i do not care, it is just that i can barely find time to feed myself, so there is little chance of me having 1.5 hours to listen to and/or watch your speech.

planning the quilt blocks.

yippee.

the good news is that in the midst of completely and totally forgetting to change the channel to the state of the union, i was busy working on my quilt. making progress people, making progress.

skippee.

this past weekend i dug through all of my scrap and fabric boxes and pulled out bits of every lovely fabric i own. each chunk was meticulously starched, ironed, and then sliced and diced into 2.5" squares. about three hundred squares. yes, you read that correctly. thank goodness for rotary cutters. seriously, i cannot comprehend how people created multiple quilts without these heavenly slicers. just thinking about it is enough to send my brain into a tailspin.

dandy.

eye candy.

anyhow, after hours of sorting, ironing, and cutting, i had to do some color planning. the result is twenty quilt blocks arranged and readied for sewing. i sewed one just to see how the blocks will look. scrumptious, eh?

the first finished quilt block.

now i just have to sew 19 more. good golly, miss molly. and just in case the quilt was not enough, i also had to make a birthday present for one of big-E's buddies. i made what i have dubbed a super blankie. suitable for sleeping, picnicking, superhero capes, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

super blankie.

the big ONE.

hard to believe, but little pringle is one year old. it has been a crazy wonderful year. and of course the big question was, to have a party or not? we all know he ain't going to remember any of it, nor will he understand what is happening, but we will. so we had a party.

the beginnings of a banner

we wanted to keep it small and simple, but i am me and simple is NOT in my dna. simple design, yes. simple projects, nope. my brain went into overdrive figuring out exactly how to transform our building's blah blah blah community room into the perfect spot for a first birthday party.

the community room. oy vey.

i painted some lovely banners, the mister created gads and gads of strings with colorful squares, we sewed some monster party favors, and we made paper stars and paper chains. we happily, the end result was dreamy.

the mister and his helper making wall coverings.

yummy.

the food corner.

i love this wall, sigh.

and then there was the cake. naturally i consulted the internet, but what i found was ridiculously intimidating. there are some seriously overachieving parents out there!!! i am not, nor have i ever been, known for my baking, so trying to make a dump truck sculpture with cake was definitely beyond my skill level. but i still wanted it to be special. i had it in my head that i would make the entire thing from scratch...cake AND frosting. of course, my kitchen is not equipped with any type of electrified mixer and apparently these gadgets make the process a whole lot easier. right. oh well. i decided to make a "trial" cake for our little family-of-three celebration that we had on the little guy's actual birthday. the cake was bright green. delicious, but seriously crumbly. the frosting took three tries. the final version was chocolately goodness, but hard. of course, pringle was delighted with the result. in fact, he got upset when we took it away. 

numero uno.

even though it was yummy, the mister and i decided that the cake for the party needed some improvements. enter betty crocker. in the end i made a four-layer cake, with blue and green layers. and white frosting with orange decorations. the design was simple, simple, simple, and it turned out sooooooooooooo pretty. so so pretty. i kept opening the fridge to look at it, because i was so surprised that it turned out so glorious. and the taste..well, betty crocker did a fabulous job, so the cake was scrumptious. and did i mention it was pretty? it was.

i adore this cake. it makes me giddy.

staring down the cake.

monster party favors!!

all in all, it was a delightful party. and pringle had super much fun.

the birthday boy.

blanketed.

every day with a little baby brings new developments. the latest is that pringle is starting to grab hold of things that you put in his hand. this is rather exciting because it means we can give him things that he can use to keep himself entertained. and most things that we put in his hand eventually end up in his mouth.

trying to eat his sock monkey's arm.

he has a rattle that he plays with by shaking it and waving it around or he shoves it in his mouth and sucks on it. the problem with this rattle is that once he drops it he cannot pick it back up. apparently he has not yet figured out the joys of his opposable thumbs. being a mini-human means that he is also fascinated by ordinary things like burp cloths, which happen to be much easier for him to hold. after considering these basic facts, i decided the little guy needs a toy that is easy for him to hold, play with, and suck on. enter the lovey or security blanket. i have decided that pringle needs one. yes, NEEDS.

trying to eat his momma's sewing.

i could head over to target and pick up a security blanket for $7.99, but what kind of crafty mom would i be if i purchased something that i could lovingly make myself? and of course i could make this blanket by sewing together two pieces of cloth, but well...have you ever met me? no? oh, well in this house we like to complicate things as much as possible. so rather than take anything resembling an easy route, i instead used leftover fabric from THE quilt to make a mini quilt. and a mini stuffed owl. and then i sewed the two together and, if i may say so myself, the result is rather marvelous. it only took me a week.

ladies and gentlemen, meet paco...

me thinks pringle likes paco...
 

baby got back.

the pepa.

sometimes things are not better in the west. no offense to the myriad of companies producing baby carriers, but the developed world has simply not designed any product that carries babies as efficiently and perfectly as the women of developing nations. i have seen pictures of how it is done in other countries, but lesotho is the only country for which i have first hand experience. they use a blanket and a gigantic safety pin. that is it. it sounds too good to be true, but i assure you it is possible. thanks to my two year sojourn in lesotho, and the fact that my best friend and her mother both had babies, i learned how to pepa (carry a baby on my back). about a month ago i decided pringle was ready to pepa, so on my back he went. other people seem surprised at how much he likes it, but not me. let us think about this...he is tightly wrapped and happens to be strapped to one of his favorite people in the world. what's not to love? anyhow, i started off using my tjale (a blanket women wear around their waist or shoulders, similar to a picnic blanket - mine was given to me by my in-laws) and when at home, i carried pringle around on my back all the time. but i was not mentally prepared for venturing out in public. i have this awful tendency to get a bit timid about doing out-of-the-ordinary things in public, so obviously strapping my baby on my back and wandering the grocery store was totally NOT in my comfort zone. ugh.

boring blue blanket.

but then a friend saw a picture i had posted of pringle on my back and she mentioned that my blanket is boring. she is right. it is blue with blue stripes. well, i cannot say that i needed another sewing project, but i like a good challenge. and i realized that maybe if i made a special pepa blanket, i would be more at ease using it in public. as an added bonus it would be lovely and hopefully not be as hot as an acrylic blanket, which is mucho importante in miami. so i pulled out my fabrics and voila!! a quilted cloth to carry my little pringle. now when people ask me what carrier i am using, i am going to tell them it is a "pepa" by lerato. and they will be super jealous, because their hands-free carrier ain't as fantastic as my hands-free carrier. 

the new and improved pepa blanket.

ain't it lovely? i am still not 100% confident using it in public, because i feel like a fish out of water, but i am working on it. i am building up mental stamina... i used it walking downstairs to get the mail, to a yoga studio grand opening, and in the mister's company at the grocery store. it has been wonderful, but it definitely gets a lot of stares and comments. i know i know...time to stop worrying about what everyone else is thinking and just worry about what is best for me and my baby. easier said than done, but i am trying!!!

pringle loves it!

sew baby sew.

the moment i found out i was pregnant, i started planning my sewing projects. since i love to design and sew bags, i knew that i would make our diaper bag. for months i pondered all manner of tote bags, debating the merits of various accoutrements. and then i talked to my mums. she mentioned that my brother and his wife use a backpack. i firmly explained that i am NOT a backpack person, hence i would NOT be using a backpack. she gently pointed out that using a backpack means your hands are free, but at my further insistence that i would use a tote bag, she dropped the issue.

fast forward a few months. one afternoon, upon arriving home, i realize i have my school bag (tote), gym bag (tote), and two grocery bags (totes) to carry upstairs. eek. in order to simplify the carrying process and avoid two trips, i carried my school bag like a backpack and grabbed the rest in my hands. it was this moment when i realized that, as per usual, my mums was right. a backpack would be a whole lot easier when i need my hands to carry important things like my BABY!

needless to say, all my months of designing the bag in my head went right out the window. luckily i found this glorious backpack design on the internet and some fabulous plaid fabric. i did not actually use the pattern, but i did use this bag as inspiration and then made my own pattern. of course, i could not do simple things like a basic flap. oh no...my flap is a zippered pocket with a magnetic closure. and why have a flat pocket on the front, when you can have a zippered pouch pocket? i spent some time calculating with paper and pencil, then cut out the fabric, and then started sewing. it was a daunting task. there was definitely some cursing, oodles of whining, a lot of action for the seam ripper, and settling for some moments of less-than-perfect sewing, but, it is officially complete.

 naturally, you cannot have a diaper bag without a travel changing pad and a wipes/cream case. so i made those too. now i am on the prowl for my next project. i already made burp cloths, changing pad cover, nursing cover-up, crib sheets, and oh yeah...the quilt. i wonder what is next.

shirr impossible.

last week was my spring break and i have a tradition of sewing my way through spring breaks. of course, this time around i am awfully pregnant, so 23 hours straight at the sewing machine was out of the question, but i did spend at least a few hours a day working the pedals. most of the time i was fussing over pringle's quilt, but once i was on a roll sewing circles, i had some spare time. i decided that it was imperative to make a long sundress. i hopped on the internet to search for an easy sundress pattern and well, the results were a bit less than fruitful. i mean, there were a LOT of dresses, but they all seemed to be for little girls.

the dress in my imagination.

soooo...i figured that since i like to act like a five-year-old, i might as well dress like one. i used this shirred dress tutorial, which is of course modeled by a little girl. no surprise there. now i do not know about you, but i have never shirred fabric. a few months ago i discovered a shirring tutorial and bought some elastic thread. i never actually sat down to do any shirring, so the elastic thread was still hanging around in my sewing bins. i dug out a gigantic piece of cloth i bought in lesotho in 2004. clearly it was time to use this gorgeous fabric. 

i have hoarded 5 meters of this fabric for 7 years. i like it. lots.

i cut out my pieces and sewed the sides together. and then i shirred. and shirred. and shirred. and shirred. ten inches of shirring later and i had the bodice of the dress complete.

shirring.

the shirred bodice.

unfortunately when i tried on the "dress" it looked about as awesome as a potato sack. not cute. so i cut off the bottom, added more material to make it ruffly, and then reattached it. now, when viewed from the front, it is definitely a dress, but then i turn to the side and well....it does not exactly show things off in grand style. rather it makes me look like a big-bellied whale with a gigantic arse. still not cute.

lovely dress that i cannot yet wear.

of course i convinced myself that if i washed the dress, the fabric would relax and it would all be golden. sadly, no. the dress is lovely, but it is decidedly NOT maternity wear. so i will be the cutest post-prego ever, but i still gots no long dress for wearing with the little pringle ensconced in my belly. but i have grand plans. i am going to make this dress again with floppy fabric that will drop straight down below the belly, rather than using the belly as a ramp to flip out an additional three feet. it is gonna be awesome. you'll see.

christmas completed.

clearly christmas is over and done with, but i still want to share the goodies that i made. plus, it is never a bad time to celebrate christmas!!

first there was the much pondered gift for my nephew. final decision was to make him some owl pillows. if i may say so myself, i think they turned out absolutely darling (they are about 12"). and in case anyone was wondering, as far as my nephew is concerned, i was the hands-down winner of the auntie of the year award. i also made a mini owl as an appetizer gift for ms. pumpky.

the owls' names from left to right: zeke, zeus, and zettie.

then there was the quilt that i was working on. since it was for my brother and sister-in-law, i could not tell you about it, just in case they decided to read my blog. they were married back in june and i had dilly-dallied my way through six months trying to finish up their quilt. i figured i should finish it before the end of 2010. finally finally i got it done. what a relief. from start to finish, it was definitely the most labor-intensive quilt i have ever made, but it was worth it. i totally love it and i think they do too. unfortunately my pictures are not stupendous, but you'll just have to enjoy it despite the crap photography.

the quilt is about 5' x 6'. i forgot to take a picture after i sewed on the label. oops.

hope y'all had a merry christmas and a joyous boxing day. boxing day is the mister's birthday, so that day rates a little higher in our world than it might in yours. and of course, a happy new year to you and yours!

lunchtime.

i love lunch. actually it is probably my favorite meal of the day. i am guessing this stems from the fact that i positively adore sandwiches and lunch is the meal best suited to those happy creations. strangely, despite my love of lunch, i HATE making my lunches for work. even stranger is i hardly ever take sandwiches. i like cooking and i like eating, but the joy is sucked out when i get to the part where i have to condense some food into a traveling meal.

now that pringle is with us, i am trying to make a conscious effort to have healthy lunches. not that my previous lunches were unhealthy, there was simply no focus on ensuring a nice balance of fruits, veggies, and other nutritious goodies. i was thinking variations on rice, vegetables, and salad. bento boxes anyone? have you seen the creations some people come up with? it is nothing short of amazing....

this is some bento box art featured in an article on the woman's day website:

let us be honest..these are a little bit out of my league, but at least i could have an adorable container to go with my lovely lunch bag.  so my mumsy and i went to the asian dollar store and found not just a display, but an entire AISLE devoted to traveling meals. wow. containers of every shape and size to hold anything you could possibly want to include in your lunchbox. not to mention little delights like mini molds to shape your rice into animals. somehow i restrained myself from buying everything. i got a small assortment of goodies, so that whatever meal i am trying to make mobile, i will be well prepared.

the cutest little two-tier container. it even has a space for my utensils. i created the little elastic strap to hold the tiers together.

a totally divided container with flaps! its like a de lorean, only better.

could not resist the stackable boxes. condiments anyone? yes, i have containers for my vitamins, salad dressing, and toppings.

i have no intention of creating bento box art, but i am stocked up with a versatile collection of containers that will hopefully make lunch creation a bit less painful. this week i carted around my two-tiered beauty. top tier had salad and the bottom had the lentils and rice recipe from an article in the sunday new york times. so far so good!!! let's hope i can keep this up.

framed by chaos.

as if i did not have enough projects on my plate, on tuesday i decided that i should give a gift to some of my colleagues. of course i cannot walk into a store and buy some little trinkets like a normal person. oh no. i have to create. right. on a budget. super. luckily, i mentioned this to mrs. nipper knapp and not surprisingly, she is a treasure trove of ideas. she promptly rattled off some quick and easy options and i was ready to roll...picture frames for the ladies and one embroidered hanky for the gent. no problem. except for having only 48 hours to buy the supplies, make the frames and hanky, and wrap up all the goodies. yikes!

a quick trip to michaels and target to secure supplies and i was ready. twelve picture frames...here we go. i set up a little assembly line to whip through these as efficiently as possible. paint the back of all the frames. apply modge podge and attach purty paper. cut the paper to size. modge podge over the paper. three times. wait for it all to dry. clean up the edges. insert a cute lerato designs card in place of the advertisement picture. wrap it up and tie a bow with a handmade gift tag. voila! it only took sixteen hours.

and then i remembered that i needed to embroider a hanky. ummm...never embroidered a monogram before, but how hard can it be, right? eeeps. it might not be the finest monogram ever completed, but it was done with love and that is all that matters. i hope.

of course 8 hour days at work followed by 8 hour evenings of crafting means i did not get enough sleep and ran myself right into another cold. argh!!! but i will get better fast and then i will plow headfirst into the real christmas gift creations, because it would not be christmas if i was not crafting until the last possible minute.