Evangelina

A couple weeks ago, I visited my sweet, 14 month old niece in Washington DC. I took my new Canon Rebel T3 and tried to capture her in all her crawling-glory! With her, I brought a simple little pig I made for her out of the softest pink baby fleece you ever did touch. It's just perfect for cuddling! My aspirations are to sew her a new farm animal for each visit I make to see her. In addition, of course, to dressing her up AS a cute, cuddly, somewhat ferocious animal.

I also knit my sister-in-law and niece matching turban bow bands! I think matching Mommy & daughter apparel is just precious. Though it's quickly turned to spring in Nashville, these are still available at Local Honey.

My boyfriend and I have been enjoying the process of creating food and drink in mason jars. We decided to pickle some pickles! They turned out quite yummy, and look lovely in my fridge. Find the recipe here! It's easy, I promise.

Isn't Evangelina just the cutest?!

Evangelina Marie Peripatei

I finally met her, just before she turned the ripe old age of 6 weeks! It is sad that my very first niece is growing up in DC, so very far away, I feel that each time I see her she will be so much bigger... so much older than the last time. But I suspect that each time I see her she will also somehow be even more lovely, even smarter, even more charming.

She has the deepest blue eyes and not enough hair to pin down what that will look like! Here, she models the little drooling bib I made her, which she is welcome to drool and spit up all over. Baby and Mommy had a little fashion shoot in the cute princess-sailor-collar onesie I found her (back when she was pea sized in the womb). I can't wait to make more baby goodies.

Baby, Powerdrill, Medicine

Remember how I kept mentioning exciting new news? Well I told you about 15%. Oops. For one, my baby brother is getting married! He and his fiancé live just round the corner in Atlanta, and she (Ashley) was in town about a month ago for country music festivities. We had a cute shopping trip to Wonders on Woodland and Hip Zipper. And of course... Las Paletas. Also... my other little brother and his wife are expecting! The baby is due sometime round Christmas... but you better believe I already have a vintage suitcase full of girly clothes up to 3T. I gave them a couple of the smaller baby clothes (and shoes... including saddle shoes imprinted with a gold drawing of a deer, by a brand called BABY DEER... apparently my Deer Ones label isn't too original) and we spent a wonderful weekend experiencing my favourite things in Nashville... more Las Paletas, the couture exhibit at the Frist, Fido, cooking with yummy farmer's market goodies, shakespeare in the park, ballroom dancing in the park, and of course... playing lots of mexican train. I promise that as I make cute frilly things for my little niece, I will share.



We also went to the flea market at the Fairgrounds, which you probably have caught on is another favourite event of mine each month. I give myself an allowance each time, which is typically more money than I have to spend. The last few months I've been looking for an old medicine cabinet. The ones at home depot are just too ugly to spend $100 on, (or $10 on), and any vintage ones I've found online have been upwards of $600. Not joking. My bathroom isn't tall enough for such an extravagance. Well, flea, you finally came through. I score this old beauty for a mere $80. (all I have to do was bat my eyelashes like, twice and the old man came down twenty bucks). It did need a little love. Bryan cleaned it up with a clorox wipe while I made lunch and thought about how I was going to put the heavy cabinet up on my powdery bathroom walls. I'll tell you the truth. I don't mind being a helpless girl. But the fact of the matter is, I'm past my prime, unmarried, and I just have to do these things for myself or I won't survive. I still make silly mistakes ALL the time, and it takes me awhile to figure projects out, but I do. I mean, it took me 5 weeks to get my studio set up (because there are no studs and it is made of wall mud, not dry wall, omg). I'm happy to say this project took less than an hour. I attempted using those plastic thingies you put in before a screw, but banged up my binger trying to hammer them thru the tile post-drill hole. I have been using those plastic thingies for ages, and always had trouble getting them INTO the wall. But hey guess what? TONIGHT I realised that I have a special drill bit just for those pesky, lifesaving plastic thingies. I know, I'm an idiot. I was so frustrated I didn't even use them. The medicine cabinet was REALLY heavy but I some how managed balancing it, my ipod (gosh I love that level app), and drilling at the same time. Right. I'm a superhero. Seriously tho, I don't know how I did it because I am short and it had to go a little high. My new drill made it thru that tough tile and I got it up there with 2 screws, and only -.03 off, according to my level. That's nothing. Next up? Attaching the front face. It was the heaviest part, and very flimsy. The wood attaching it was cracking (how old is this thing, I can't place it in an era... if you know help please) so I had to be careful. Fortunately I had cute little gold screws on hand. But first! I noticed there were only two nails still in the back of it, so I found itty bitty nails and tacked the mirror down. This was scary, as the old oval mirror is fragile and the wood backing it was pretty thin. I was sure I'd crack the mirror and have 700 years bad luck. If you're a girl I hope you've made it this far in my lengthy essay, I'm just trying to encourage you (YOU CAN DO THIS TOO!) Okay I didn't crack the mirror, and somehow got the cute gold screws on the inside there. The front still may need some tacking, but I'm worried due to the cracks in the wood. Oh, and I figured out why the door was unattached after I screwed it in.... because the shelves will no longer slide out. Good thing I had placed them back in their spots.





Anyways, it's there. So if you're over and you have a headache or need to brush your teeth, help yourself to it's inhabitants. And if you're in need of girly or hair products, please take note of the vintage makeupcase below the sink (also compliments of the flea, $5). This weekend was a definite win.

Babies & Fringe

Babies. I love babies. I love all my many friends with new babies or babies in their bellies. Babies are just EVERYWHERE these days. And how can that not make one giggle with joy? I love making cute baby things, like these moccassins, attributed to my native heritage. (made with yummy Marc Jacobs wool and NOT deer skin)

I just visited my dear friend Jill and her brand new, adorable little boy, Addison. They and daddy Russ are a darling family! I was excited to see a picture of Addi on her blog wearing the lil moccs. He's growing so fast, they probably won't fit too long, but they were so cute I wanted to touch the screen and pinch his toes. And check out his handsome woodsy sweater. Yep, the ever-talented Jill knit that for him. Make sure to sneakpeak their creatively decorated nursery and her fun pregnancy (in a minute) video.

Moccs for purchase at Social Graces in Hillsboro Village. Baby headdresses available upon request.

Today I googled "lion face".

Googling

Custom projects: love/hate relationship, certainly thankful for them. A little bit of cash, and always a learning experience. My friend Brian asked me to sew a onesie for his daughter out of his fiance's favourite VS pajamas. Initially we wanted to just use the top as fabric so they could have a lil matching set, but that pattern demanded every inch of fabric. I found a vintage Simplicity onesie pattern on etsy. In my past experience (we're talking high school here, looong time ago), Simplicity patterns are quite... simple. As in, 1hr or less and no questions asked. Not the case. This one was a nightmare, to be honest. BUT! If I wanted to make another, I could certainly do it in less time. The directions were not very clear, I ran out of fabric, and I had a problem with fray. Nonetheless, I finished it in two days. Approximately 5 or 6 hours, start to finish, including pattern confusion and fabric cutting/ planning. I'm the girl who won't look at directions, I just want to figure it out myself. 90% of the time I revert to directions because I've really screwed up and possibly broken a brand new product (building something out of wood, coffee pot assembly, automobile problems, anything requiring directions really). That said, I detest and almost never use sewing patterns.

Enough rambling.




Also, I have a fun, new game. With every post, I will share something I googled that day. I'm not quite sure what my life would be without googling. I can imagine life without internet. I cannot imagine life without google search. This is definitely a window into my soul. So please never make fun of what I google. (okay, fine, just do it in good nature). Today I googled "tangled bobbin 1/4" elastic fix". (sidenote, if google doesn't help, call your mother) Whew. That was just to ease in. After learning what to do for that, I googled "olsen twin boyfriends".

Don't ask. Never ask.