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I know its not even Halloween yet, but I’m starting to keep my eye out for thoughtful Christmas gifts. This caught my eye as a nice gift for a knitter (with a baby).

It is a kit for making a striped baby blanket. The hardest part about ordering yarn or fabric online is matching colors.  Purl Soho took the guess work out of it and even selected multiple palettes to choose from. Deets here.

I’m so excited that I actually finished the baby’s quilt before she arrived!  I think it turned out pretty well too.  The back fabric is a tad billowy, so next time I might pre-wash the quilt front before sewing on the back. All in all, not bad for my first real go at a quilt!

For the back I used a super soft light brown Minky. It is nice to the touch and the bumps keep it interesting.

Today is the second day of daycare, which I have started calling “school” because it seems more appropriate and is just plain easier to say having fewer syllables and all (I need to conserve energy where I can). Anyway, drop off totally sucked.  He started crying in the car as soon as we pulled up and he saw the big yellow house. Even the peppy little Boston Terrier couldn’t snap him out of it.  When I left he was crying and saying “Baum Baum”, which means “Mommy, Mommy”.  Heartbreaking.

So I’ve basically been crying for an hour.  And beating myself up.  Then telling myself its best for everyone etc etc. blah blah blah.  And now I’m recovered enough to plan my day of distractions.

I’m going to start with sewing.  I’m working on a blanket for the new little baby and it would be cool if it was done before she is born. Following that, I plan to walk 2 blocks and get the longest, most fragrant pedicure money can buy. And if I’m really feeling crazy, I might walk one more block and see a movie.  And this my friends is really out there for me.  I am not a movie goer. I always enjoy them when I go, yet I avoid them like the plague.  The time usually seems better spent doing something social, or at least getting something done – like laundry or yard work. But today it might be the only way to escape my head and heart.

A cute photo from the archives to remind me of how good life is…

UPDATE:
The daycare just sent me a couple text messages. Apparently he is “doing really well today. He only cried for like 10 min! Now he’s playing”.

Also a couple photos…

This past weekend I hosted a baby shower for my dear friends Sara & Mike.  The theme was birds/nests.  I wanted to make it beautiful and dainty. Think tea party meets baby girl baby shower.

Here are some photos.  (sorry about the lighting)

Cigars for the guys…

This is a little wish tree.  Guests write wishes for the baby or mom and dad on the cards and hang it from the pink ribbon.

I decorated the railing with a garland of twig type material and attached small artificial birds.  The morning of the event I tucked in a whole bunch of tiny pink roses. It really made the entry way feel very festive.  The front door had a wreath made of dried grapevine which also had fresh roses and artificial birds, along with faux flowers made from vintage gauze and a nest  I made by hand.

This is a photo of the right half of the favor table. In each box are two tasty and very fresh macaroons from Paulette Macaroons in Hayes Valley.  There were 4 flavors represented – Rose, Sweet Wedding Almond, Madagascar Vanilla, and Violet Cassis.

Ages ago Cheyenne made the cutest little plush doll for her daughter. As soon as I read about it on her blog I knew I had to make my baby one. Of course weeks turned to months, and months turned to more months and it never happened. Cheyenne was kind enough to then also make my baby one. Thank you!

Well I finally got around to making one myself. It isn’t the most well made thing I’ve ever done, but it was fun to make. I used an old brown cashmere sweater I never wear, and a retro looking stretched out T-shirt of Dallas’, with a sprinkling of coral fabric that we used as table runners in our wedding. I really like that I was able to work in fabric from personal sources. Along with organic cotton batting, I also packed the doll with empty baby wipes packaging to make it crinkle. The ears are stiff with the crinkle material.

Just before Easter I saw this tutorial for making an adorable plush bunny out of recycled sweaters. I barely have enough time to maintain a happy baby and a clean home, but somehow I will make this guy (even if it takes me until next Easter!). I will make Maddox a plush toy. I will make Maddox a plush toy. I will make Maddox a plush toy.

This pattern for an owl plush toy uses old baby wipes packaging to make the toy crinkly. For some reason babies LOVE crinkly. If Maddox is having a fit, the only sure thing that will calm him is if I allow him to play with the wipes – crinkle, crinkle, crinkle! One of these days I’ll make a crinkly bunny!

I decided to take some time off from knitting the baby blanket and make our baby-to-be a little hat. I have made some version of the angora baby hat for several friends, therefore it seemed almost a requirement that my baby have one upon birth as well. This one knit up super fast. I worked on it in two sittings, last night and this afternoon – and now its done! Easy peasy. It is a simple K2, P2 rib with some decreasing at the crown. I think I might make matching booties as well.

Yesterday we went to the Alameda Flea Market (a.k.a. Antiques by the Bay). It turned out to be a lovely way to spend a Sunday morning. We wandered around looking at all sorts of stuff. The sun was out, but not yet too hot. Eventually we met up with some friends to say hello, then ate buckwheat crepes filled with brie and such, then ended the outing with some Hawaiian Shave Ice.

There seemed to be a lot of vendors with letters and numbers – in metal, on wood, small, big, etc.
We purchased some small letterpress letters spelling out M-A-D-D-O-X, and some larger metal numbers 1 – 5 to hang on the nursery wall.

I finished up the wooden baby blocks last night. I think they turned out pretty well. The supplies are theoretically non-toxic, so they should be safe for the kid to chew on (though block chewing is still a while off at this juncture).