Updates

Hello!  God, it's been a slow week.  And I'm enjoying every second of it.  The highlights from tomorrow are as follows:  I bought brown corduroy (at 1/2 off....a lady walked up to G and gave him her coupon she decided not to use) to make a Molly Monkey doll for the petite princess (my niece) and buying an insanely large piece of furniture that we rented a Home Depot truck to get home.  We want to put it in our bedroom, and the question now stands, how on earth to get it up 2 flights of stairs?  We'll just have to figure something out!  

And I have updated my blogroll to the blogs I read frequently.  Some of the old ones stayed because I need to remember to read them (I did enjoy them before).  But now I've added the chic lifestyle type blogs that I read daily.  Check them out!  

I'm off to get ready for church.  The Baptists across the street can be heard above the rain.  And my husband woke me up with singing, tea and toast.  It's a great day already!

Awaiting

I am patiently trying to rest.  Unfortunately as much as I love settling into bed with a good book and whiling the day away drinking tea, the kitchen is two floors down from our bedroom and makes getting tea difficult.  Perhaps tomorrow I will make up a cozy nook on my grandmama's sofa (and yes, we call it grandmama's sofa, though now it is ours, we probably will always refer to it as such).  But I am fidgety as all get out and looking forward to being able to get up and move around.  We did head to Barnes and Noble tonight to look at quilting and sewing books and that about did me in.  I came in and finished "On The Banks Of Plum Creek" and am now watching Anne of Green Gables on youtube.  Neither are helping my desire to be up, cleaning, cooking, and sewing.  

Garret and I are discussing doing all homemade gifts this year, including for each other.  I never did finish the dolls for my niece last winter (and am quite ashamed that they're done, except for the faces and I'm intimidated by the thought of screwing them up after working on them so carefully).  However she's just now to the age of carrying around a doll (she'll be 2 in January), so I figure it's okay.  And when I bought the pattern for the one doll I also bought 2 others for her for later.  I think I will make them this winter and save them for later!  One is a Jane doll meant to be able to have a Jane Austen style look, and I cannot wait for tea parties with my niece and her dolls!

I am wanting to make a quilt by hand.  I'm looking at different sites online as well as books for the simplest way to learn.  I'm considering doing a tiny little one for my niece (with a matching one for her dolls that I can give her next year) as a start.  But eventually my goal is to make a stack of quilts for our home.  Their style is not really quite right for us, but there is no debating their warmth and comfort in the colder months!  We have an old one that is really worn on our bed right now that my great grandmother made.  My maman has a bundle of them at home and each child is getting one.  I've asked for the wedding rings one and am keeping my fingers crossed.  I also have a pink one in my closet that my great grandmother made (I got it because I'm the only girl), and I plan to use some old fashioned whitener to freshen it up and let it dry in the sun.  It's very delicate (hand sewn), but in great condition.  I imagine curling up with a daughter in it.  

I'm also planning to attempt sewing my own curtains.  I figure I will start with a simple cotton panel, but eventually I want to sew silk ones and velvet ones for our sitting room (to switch out between the cold and warm months).  And I also have on the sewing list a new butcher style apron for G.  He has a navy and white striped one we picked up at Tesco's in England, but he really needs at least one more and has asked me to make one (using the old one as a pattern).  

I'm learning to give myself time to learn these new skills.  I didn't learn to cook overnight.  I'm lucky I have the hand sewing skills I do, thanks in large part to a very patient grandmama who used to let me sew on old scraps, teaching me to draw designs with a pencil to embroider.  I know I don't have to be perfect at everything, I am just aiming to eventually do a lot of old fashioned things that will save my family time and money.  But sometimes I can be harsh on myself if I make a mistake or take forever.  I have more patience with others than with myself.  Are there any new skills you are trying to learn? 

So...

After that last venting post I feel like I need to post something cheerier.  And I had just the thing in mind!  

Does anyone else feel like their niece or nephew were put on this planet for only 2 reasons? One to have an excuse to make cutesy homemade toys and such as a trial run before making them for their own kids? (and boy do I have a list as long as my arm of things to make!)  And two, so they can huggle and snuggle them to death?  

Because my niece is quite possibly the cutest thing since puppies and kittens.  I told my brother that she was the cutest little girl in the world but would lose her title once we had one.  He got pissed.  Doesn't change that she'll be the second cutest little girl in the world, and that's a pretty big title!

I went home this summer hoping not to get attached, since I think her parents are morons.  But in the end, this beautiful little girl who looks so much like me with my brother's eyes (yes, his eyelashes are long enough to reach the stars, and that bright grey blue), well, she stole my heart.  So here I am MD, knowing she'll be at my parents house this weekend, and wishing I could go snuggle in with her.  Did I mention I like to tell her she's too pretty to cry?  Or that she attached herself to me like velcro the first time I met her?  

Her mother said she was eating food. She wasn"t a big fan of it, and kept making this face!

This is my beautiful Grandmama with Alayna.

She's the reason I know I will be a good maman someday.  Because I never imagined I could love someone so much, and she's not even mine.  So she has her Aunt Kalee who loves her..... fiercely and forever.  

My mother bought her this hat...it's a tad big.

And Aunt Kalee will be making her a dolly for Christmas.  She'll be turning one the beginning of January, and my brother and I are determined to make her a girly girl (her mother is somewhat of a....hmm, what's the polite term?  tom boy?).  So I bought some doll patterns, and have some free from online, and will be making her a doll or five, we'll see how the first one goes.  I also want to make her a little blanket or quilt.  

Here's the doll I will be making.  It's from BitOfWhimsyPrims off of Etsy.

Cute right?

Here's some other dolls I am considering making for her over time.  So many patterns online for dolls and softies, you just have to search for them.  I'm also planning on making her a bunch of soft blocks, which might make a nice Christmas gift as well!

A Red Riding Hood Doll from The Long Thread

Doll from The Black Apple via Martha Stewart

A Nurse or Soldier Softie from Vintage Ric Rac.  I happen to think these are adorable, and you could definitely take this idea and run with it to create other softies.  

And one more....I love the Hungry Catepillar, so this softie from Craft Blog, with a copy of the book, would be a fantastic gift for her second birthday.  

I'm excited to do these for my niece, and it will be so fun for our future children to have these and many many more.  I'm working on my sewing, and we're saving for a sewing machine for me.  Someday maybe I'll even manage to make some clothing!