2015 Recap

Wow... 2015 is over... and what a year it has been! Let's sum up... with pictures!

January

After living in my generous and gracious grandparents' house for two months, Handsomeface got a full time job with a local construction company. After 2 years and some of working part time jobs with irregular hours, this was a huge blessing. We moved into my generous and gracious parents' house while Michael started working and I looked for housing and got ready for Goofer Bean to arrive. We even got to welcome a new nephew into the world!

Michael at Work

Getting Ready for Goofer Bean!

February

February was a flurry of getting ready for Goofer Bean. We found an apartment and started looking for a car. Not much else happened, other than getting news that our apartment wouldn't be ready till the middle of March... and Goofer Bean's due date was the 25th! We'd be cutting it close...

Goofer Bean and Me

March

We didn't even know how close... We went to the apartment the very day they said we could sign the lease and it was not ready... My mom and I spent the next two days cleaning and the day after that we all attended the wedding of two of my dearest friends. I made the mistake of dancing cotton-eyed joe and a polka. I thought it was fine, but... well, you'll see. The next day was moving day! We drove up to my grandparents' house where all our stuff was... Handsomeface and my dad went to get the moving truck, and my mom, sister, brother-in-law, and I went in and started sorting piled-up mail... and then my water broke! Less than seven hours later, we were definitely not moved in, but we finally got to see this little wonder face to face!

Look how beautiful! Can you believe it?

Later that month, we moved into our own apartment and bought a minivan. I could hardly believe how complete life seemed.

April

In April, Michael and I settled into life as parents. Michael had a birthday, Goofer Bean celebrated numerous firsts (first holiday, first pigtails, first long trip, and many more), and I enjoyed being a full-time mom, despite the crazy sleep deprivation.

Dollbaby's First Easter

May

May was full of ups and downs. Our car broke down, but generous family helped us get it fixed. Goofer Bean had trouble sleeping, but she started smiling regularly. I had a birthday and my first mother's day! It was a good month.

Goofer Bean giving me breakfast in bed for my very first mother's day. :)

June

Goofer Bean started learning like crazy this month! She started getting fascinated by things around her, and learned to roll over. She had her first solid food, which she loved, and started what we hope will be a lifetime of culinary adventures. She started getting better at sleeping, too. Michael got to celebrate his first father's day. (So many firsts this year!)

Goofer Bean and Handsomeface

July

This month was marked by a visit from faraway family (Michael's sister, to be exact), and Goofer Bean's first trip to the vacation spot of my childhood, Lake MI. Fun and family galore!

First time in the Lake MI Channel!

August

This month was pretty much defined by teaching Goofer Bean to sleep. So many ups and downs with teaching babies to sleep! But she also started interacting more, both with Michael and me and with her environment. It is just so cool to watch babies learn on a daily basis.

Me and my Dollbaby.

September

This month, Goofer Bean learned to say Mama. She played by herself more and more. Michael enjoyed his job and I enjoyed being a mommy. Not very remarkable, but very good.

Yummy feets!

October

Michael and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary this month, Goofer Bean made mimicking Michael and me a full-time hobby, and we all dressed up for her first Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

November

I actually got to do a sewing project this month! I feel like this is the month when I really started feeling a routine start to form, as far as motherhood goes. I started accomplishing more than just childcare basics on a regular basis, and started to feel like I could sit back and enjoy watching Goofer Bean learn and seeing Michael be a fantastic daddy. We all enjoyed family time at Thanksgiving, and started gearing up for Christmas!

Goofer Bean wearing my November sewing project.

December

December was a flurry of getting ready for Christmas. Sewing projects, decorating, baking, shopping... and a glorious flurry of visiting family, both close by and halfway across the country. Watching Goofer Bean experience her first Christmas was a joy to both of us.

Our Christmas Bush

Goofer Bean getting the hang of it.

So that was pretty much our year! Thanks for reading, and may God bless you in 2016!

Lots of love from all of us!

Upcoming Projects

 Hey! It's been a long time, but here I am! I've been adjusting to life as a mommy. My sweet peanut is almost eight months old now, and some things are getting easier while others get harder. She's learning fast, and getting really independent. Thanks to that, and the fact that she has a somewhat predictable sleep schedule lately, I've been able to start working on some sewing projects! Here's a timeline for what I'm hoping to accomplish in the next few months. The main projects are all for Elinor, but I have a few side projects for other people as well.

Project 1: I'm hoping to have it done fairly soon-- hopefully before the 15th, but definitely by Thanksgiving. The design is based on this doll dress. Forgive the low quality and blue arrow thing; the picture is a screen shot I took online, and I didn't think to try to find a better photo since this was all I needed to get started on a design.

The doll dress is based on a vintage girl's dress.

Here is my design sketched out, with the fabrics I'll be using. I'm also making a pair of long bloomers to go underneath. I have the pattern all drafted and ready. I'm super excited. If I have enough leftover fabric, I will make a matching outfit for my antique doll Rosie.

I forgot to put the ribbon trim I'll be using, but you get the idea.

Projects 2 and 3: Most Christmas dresses for babies have short sleeves, for some reason, and I wanted Sweet Bean to not freeze in hers. I was inspired by this really pretty plaid fabric left over from a doll outfit I made several years ago. What better way than to use it for my doll baby? I found some lovely gold fabric to go with it, since there wasn't enough plaid left to make a whole dress. I'll also be using the fabrics to make Goofer Bean's stocking. Obviously, the plan is to have these done before Christmas.

Again, I forgot to get the trim in the photo... it's a cream and gold braided cord. Very pretty.

Project 5: This is probably the biggest project I'm planning. It's going to be Goofer Bean's birthday dress! It's going to be super-duper ruffly. I'm really excited about getting the pattern ready and whatnot. I haven't spent quite as much thought on it since my deadline for it is farther away, but I can't wait to start nailing down the details.

These fabrics are very shimmery, so it was hard to get a good photo.

At least I remembered the trim this time!

Side projects: I have a few other projects that I don't have photos for. Christmas presents for my nephews, the long anticipated lighthouse drawing for my aunt (it's almost done, I promise!), a skirt made of neckties form my sister-in-law, a sweater I've been knitting for myself, and a Christmas stocking for my younger nephew. I'll post pictures as I finish each project. It's exciting to finally have ideas and motivation, and to see myself making progress. So... until next time! Thanks for reading!

New Stuff

Hey! So, I'm back, after many months... It seems that's the pattern. But in these months I've made things! Most importantly, this one:

My little peanut-head! Don't worry, it reshaped back to normal in a couple days.

Dollbaby!

...but also artwork. I finished two projects in the past few months, and I even took progress shots of each! So, before Dollbaby was born, I made a wedding gift for some friends; they wanted a thumbprint tree in place of (or maybe in addition to?) a guest book, and asked me if I'd make it, so I did! It was a fun and fairly easy project. The hardest part was making sure it was mostly symmetrical.

Preliminary sketch. Apologies for the crummy picture; I was sketching really lightly...

Inked with a sepia Pigma Micron marker. 

Filled in with watercolor.

After the reception with all the leaves added.

So, the day after that wedding, I had a baby. Then I made her a fancy gown! I was inspired by finding my great-great (or maybe my great-great-great?) grandfather's dedication gown at my grandma's house. I'd always thought I'd like to make an old-fashioned christening/dedication gown for my kids, and this was my chance! So here it is, along with plenty of progress shots and pictures showing the construction. Some notes on the construction: 1. I lined it and flat-felled most seams. The only exposed rough edges are inside the sleeves. 2. All the ribbons are tied, not sewn, so that if Handsomeface and I ever have a boy, we can switch the purple ribbons with blue. 3. I used a doll dress pattern as the basis for the pattern I drafted. If you have questions about how I did anything, comment!

Sketching out ideas.

The pattern and trims.

The skirt, all trimmed and tucked.

Another view of the skirt.

The bodice, mostly finished.

Front View

Bodice

Sleeve

Cuff Detail

Cuff Detail

Cuff Detail

Skirt Trim Completed

Back View

Bodice Back

Bodice Back, open

Inside Front

Inside Front Detail

Inside of Cuff

Inside Back

Inside Back Detail

Dollbaby modeling her gown!

So, that's what I've been busy with! The next projects I'll be working on are drawings, most notably the long-delayed lighthouse drawing for my aunt. Check back in a few months to see how I've progressed! Thanks for reading!

I'm Still Alive!

Hey, readers! It's been nearly six months, but I do still remember I have this blog! Life's been crazy, what with moving, growing a baby, friends getting ready to wed, and whatever else has been going on. My husband and I moved to Michigan, where he finally got a full time job, after months of applying. He's in construction, for anyone that missed the memo, and it's a great fit for him since he's already so good at building things (and he enjoys it too!). We're temporarily staying with family, but it looks like we'll be moving into a new apartment very soon, so with that and the baby's due date coming up, posts here are probably not going to be gaining regularity anytime soon (sorry!) Things are relatively calm right now, though, which has given me time to make stuff! Woohoo! So I thought I'd post about some of those things. Here we go!

Project number one is a wedding gift for some friends of mine, so I'm going to keep it secret for now (I'll probably post pictures after the wedding, since I'll have also done my second stint as wedding florist (well, I made the bouquets, anyway) and my I-don't-know-how-many-th stint as wedding hairstylist. So I'll have more things to post in a couple weeks, maybe.

Project number two is one that has been in the works for going on three years, much to my embarrassment- a drawing commissioned before my wedding, with the proceeds (paid in advance, no less! People, never pay me in advance.) going toward the beautiful circlet I wore. Here's where I am so far, and hopefully it will be done very soon now since I'm on an artsy kick:

Little Point Sable, the prettiest lighthouse in the world.

Not a very good photo, but you get the idea. I think it's going pretty well so far. Now if I can just finish it before I have to move again...

Project number three was not really a planned project at all. My sister-in-law invited me to the new moms' group at her church, and they were doing an art day, pretty much on a whim. The one idea given ahead of time was to think of a word, quote, or scripture that meant a lot and see what it inspired visually. I immediately thought of Psalm 139:13&14, grabbed my stack of ultrasound pictures, and headed out the door with Angie. Here's what ended up happening:

My sweet baby.

This is just what happens when you set free materials in front of me for an hour and a half and say, "Make some art! Have fun!" I don't even know how to explain it. I just hope it doesn't scare people off from making whatever stuff they have fun with... I worry that I intimidate people when I make stuff in the same place other people are making stuff... P.S. it's really hard to express all that without feeling like I'm being a showoff or something, so I guess just enjoy art? Whether it's fine art in a museum, or some silly thing you doodled on a restaurant napkin, enjoy art. If you made it, had fun, and gave it an effort, it's worthwhile. There, I suppose is the heart of the message. And now I'm done waxing philosophical. On with the post!

Project number four is probably the one I'm most excited about. I'm making an old-fashioned christening-type baby gown! I have the pattern all drafted and the materials ready. Here's the design:

Many design options. Also, that is my toe in the bottom corner,
holding the sketchbook open.

The bodice will look like the one labeled Da, drawn with the whole dress. The sleeves will look like the sleeve on the left hand side of the drawing, labeled D1. The skirt will look like the one drawn separately up in the top right hand corner, also labeled D1. If you are having trouble taking the picture apart and putting it back together, I don't blame you one bit. When I post pictures of the finished dress, you'll know what it looks like and that's what matters, right? Also, my pattern and all my fancy trims. I'm so excited to work on this more!

So much lace! Whee!

So that's what my creative life is looking like right now! Hope you had fun catching up! Talk to y'all later (hopefully in less than six months this time!)

Eating for Two

Well, it seems that I haven't posted anything since June... and now it's September. Time for an update! So, for anyone who doesn't know... I'm having a baby! Handsomeface and I found out two months ago, and here's how we told the world:

I'm almost through my first trimester already, so I figure I'd better sum up what's been going on.

Like I said above, we found out two months ago, on July 19 to be more specific. I took two home pregnancy tests that morning, since I was unreasonably worried about the possibility of a false positive. I hadn't needed to worry, they both showed the same result: baby! Michael and I didn't wait to tell family and friends; I didn't even know that was something people did until after we started making the calls. I don't regret it; it's been great having so much support since the very beginning!

I'm going to answer some of the main questions people might have down below, in survey form because I've always thought that was fun, so here are some things you might be wondering, and some things that sum up how life's been so far.

~ How far along are you? 13 weeks.
~ When are you due? March 25, 2015.
~ Have you thought about names? Yep! Munchkin for a boy and Goofer Bean for a girl.
~ Will you find out if it's a boy or a girl? Yes, and it won't be a secret. I can't keep secrets when I'm that excited about them!
~ What are you hoping for? Well, I try not to have a preference, but I find myself referring to the baby as "she" a lot. Take that as you will.
~ Are you sleeping okay? Most nights I wake up and have to use the bathroom... At least it's just once a night, for now.
~ Are you having any morning sickness? No, but if I'm hungry, I'll get kind of nauseated.
~ How about weird cravings? Anything Mexican-American. Burritos, quesadillas, chimichangas, tortilla chips with salsa... Pickles, too, dill pickles. Also, I can end up craving almost any food that anyone mentions or that I see a picture of.
~ How are you feeling? Hungry, oh, so hungry. The title of this post comes from the fact that hunger is my biggest pregnancy symptom. I am so hungry so much of the time it feels like I can't keep up. I can eat so much in one sitting and all of it tastes so good. Also, tired, but I'm starting to have some more energetic days again.
~ What's your least favorite thing about pregnancy so far? Being really thirsty all the time, but knowing that proper hydration equals trips to the bathroom every hour.
~ What's your favorite part of pregnancy so far? Knowing there's an itty bitty person inside me, wiggling around and growing like there's no tomorrow!
~ What are looking forward to right now? My next prenatal appointment.
~ Milestones: Wednesday, Sept. 10, first time hearing the heartbeat. 150 bpm. I might write about that sometime, it was magical!

Hopefully, I'll be able to update a little more frequently than once every trimester; I've reduced my hours at work (I was getting burned out working 10 hours a day, and never getting any chores done at home) and I think the full-time job was the main reason I hadn't written in a while. Since the reduction in hours, I've just about caught up on laundry, and maybe (hopefully!) I'll soon have some time and energy to start making things again! I've got a list of projects that I owe people (including myself), and I can't wait to get working on some of them!

Well, that's all for now. Thanks for reading!

Life Never Stops

It's been a very long time since I posted last... I don't have much to write about, but I figure in case anyone actually reads this, I should try to put out some kind of blurb now and then. For this one, I'll just update on how my life is going, and make a smallish announcement.

Here's the update: We've been in the same apartment for more than six months now, which alternately makes me feel excited (Yay for not moving every 2-3 months!) and distressed (There are still unpacked things piled everywhere and I can't seem to make any progress). School's out for the summer, so I'm nannying again (a very cute, very active three-year-old boy). It takes up most of my time and a lot of my energy, but he cheers when he sees me pull into their driveway and quotes Pete the Cat (a kids' book, for anyone who doesn't know) with me when we go on walks around the neighborhood, so it's good. Michael has been stepping up to take care of all the chores I usually do around the house, and is just in general being very sweet and awesome and taking care of me. We're both hoping that he can find more regular work so that I can cut down on hours and be more of a housewife, since I really am better at housewife-ing than bringing home the bacon... He's working hard on finding and pursuing job options; it just takes time, I guess. Anyway... that's life. Not very interesting to read about, but it's still good.

Anyway, this brings me to the announcement. Here it is: I will not be taking on any new projects until January 1, 2016. I have quite a list of things I either owe people or want to do for myself, and if I keep adding more I'll keep feeling like I'm never making progress... so that's that. Rest assured, if you've already commissioned me to make something for you, it's on my high-priority list. If not... I'm sorry. If I get a lot of projects done before 2015's out, I'll get started on some new ones, but I don't know what life's going to throw at me between now and then. So that's how things are going. Thanks for reading!