Hand Made Christmas Gifts.

This year we decided make each other's Christmas presents instead of buying them. The only one who opted out was my husband, but he helped the kids to make their gifts for me. Instead of opening them with the "regular" presents on Christmas Day, and getting lost in the shuffle, we each opened one hand made gift on Christmas Eve. I made the cat above, now named "Kitten", for my 6 year old daughter, and her reaction to this gift was the highlight of my Christmas. The pattern for the cat, by the way, is from this really cool book, Wee Wonderfuls by Hillary Lang.

Book Club.

A few months ago I joined in my first book club. It is made up of 5 women, including myself, and we meet about once a month at someone in the group's house. The first book we read was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. The second book was The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein, and we are about to read Room by Emma Donoghue. While I really love reading, I don't see myself writing long reviews on this blog... so unless I come across something extraordinarily good or bad, I will just post the book. Oooh, and perhaps a star rating! Ok, here are the first two books, with (my) star rating above. (Out of 5 stars.)
3 stars

2.5 stars

p.s. I really don't have a handle on whether anyone reads my blog, but if you happen to have a book club suggestion, it is my turn to pick the next book, and I am looking for ideas...

Gingerbread Houses.

These gingerbread houses are old school... graham crackers on milk cartons with frosting out of a can. My girls made these at school, and as I type this, they are making a large one together at our dining room table.

Jack-o-lantern. 2010.

Niagara Falls.

Just thought I'd say hello and here is a photo from Niagara Falls... we were in Buffalo for my good friend's wedding and paid a visit to the Falls. Back to school has really slapped my schedule upside the head. Free time is definitely dwindling...

Ahoy!

My newly minted 6 year old had a backyard pirate/treasure hunt for her birthday this year. And holy cow was that ever a lot of work. These things tend to start out simple (“oh, we’ll just have a few girls in the back yard for a party...”) and then I just can’t stop myself from going a little nuts. The thing is this: I see something – invitations, games, party favors – and say to myself I can make that. Famous last words!

Summer Knit Bag.

Whew! My camera surfaced a week or so ago, and I have lots of things to post. I finished this bag quite awhile ago – I remember that I worked on it while my husband and I were on vacation in FLA last January. Sunny yellow... just like the Florida sunshine! This pattern was from the book One Ball Knits Purses. The bag itself was easy to knit, but I needed a lot of help figuring out the pattern, specifically the texture stitch on the sides (the site knittinghelp.com was very helpful). Also, since the instructions were vague, I pretty much made up how to make the lining, but I really learned a lot on this little project.

This was one of the few projects that turned out exactly how I wanted it to, and I’ve got to say, I love it.

Missing Camera.

I just cannot find it : (

Easter on the Beach.

After forcing down a disgusting ham and cheese strata (which I made - yikes!) we spent our Easter afternoon on the shores of Lake Michigan. The day was beautiful and relaxing: the girls brought their Easter kites to fly, and played in the sand for a couple of hours (2!) while my husband and I took turns dozing in the sun.

Yesterday I was trying to think of something quick that I could make for the girls’ Easter baskets, and I came across these bunny finger puppets from the purl bee.

Hats & Spring.

A few hats that I made over the winter for the girls.


The birds are returning.. happy Spring!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

Olympics & Cat Toy.

We just watched the Olympic gold metal game for men’s hockey, USA v. Canada. Canada won 3 to 2 in overtime, but what a game! These Olympics were so much fun, I am going to miss them.


So here is one of the things I *recently* made: a felt mouse. He was the initial test run for an idea I had, which was to make a mouse for each child in my daughter’s preschool class to let them take home after reading Santa Mouse. But, as per usual, that thing took me forever to make, and so I gave it to our cat Romeo. And he looooooooves it. Really, he can take or leave most toys, but for whatever reason, he’ll attack this thing and carry it around by the tail like it was a real mouse.

Back on Track.

I can’t believe the whole month of January went by without one blog entry... guess I’ll have to make up for it this month!

Here is a list of things I’ve been working on:

• yellow knitted summer bag from the book One Ball Knits Purses
• knitted hat from a pattern found at knittinghelp.com
• felt mouse for my cat from this blog

For some reason the knitting seems to be more appealing than the sewing these days. Maybe because of the chilly Chicago weather. And knitting is so much more portable.

Well, off to bed — and tomorrow (or within the week) I’ll get some photos of the above.