Arrows quilt for baby girl Moridi!

A good friend of mine just had a baby girl and I wanted to make something for her that was both special and practical. I love quilts as they accomplish both, but they require so much work and time that I only make them for those I know will really love and use them. 

I found the instructions for this pattern on Pinterest, at  fortworthfabricstudio.blogspot.com The instructions were simple, easy to follow and included a diagram that was very helpful. I love that this quilt looks more complicated than it is. 

I chose to quilt it in varying sizes of circles, as I thought it was a nice juxtaposition to the hard lines of the arrows. It also mimicked the tiny circles of the blue, pink and black fabric. I simply traced three different sizes of mixing bowls, using pencil, on the back of the quilt and then machine stitched over the pencil marks. I finished it using a French binding, because that is what I know best. The whole thing was sewn on my Swiss made 26 year old Bernina Bernette. Proving that appliances NOT 

made in China, can last a very long time!

Eve's 3rd Pixie Themed Birthday Party

There are many things to love about being a Mom, & planning & throwing birthday parties is certainly on that list.  I have documented all of our little girl's birthday parties & I keep meaning to post them...but alas, procrastination always gets the better of me. So I might have to work in reverse.

The trickiest part of planning a party for a wee one, in my opinion, is nailing down the theme. I tried to coax her into a certain direction, I thought Rapunzel would be fun. She thought so too, for about a week. Then it was Dinosaur Train, creative but again, fleeting. She recently discovered Tinker Bell and all her little fairy friends so that was what we finally settled on. She only faltered from the plan a few times in the month leading up to the party...let's see there was a Flynn Party (from Tangled, that would have been interesting) & of course there was a major Mom fail at Party City where she was heartbroken to hear that she would not be having an Ariel party. But after a few tears (& maybe a bribe to get us back to Team Tink) all was set & we were on our way to Pixie Hollow!

It was a small affair since we don't have that many friends in California yet, but the party was a hit & it was a great group of kids & adults.

I found these super cute invites on Etsy at Double Trouble Ink

For the decorations I kept it really simple this year. I bought reusable Tink & Friends stickers, which I moved to Eve's room after the party, a few dangly sparkling things, balloons, some fresh flowers & the 'Thanks Fairy Much For Coming' sign which I made the night before with some of Eve's water colors. For the favors each little fairy got a Tink cup filled with goodies, a pink wand...& of course, fairy wings!!! They got to choose between green or hot pink wings.

Needless to say, the fairy wings were a big hit & when all the girls took to the trampoline, the effect was magical! I'm not posting a picture of them all in flight because I don't have permission from all the moms, which I totally understand.

Our little birthday fairy.

The most important part of any party is of course the cake! I make a two layer sheet cake, chocolate & white a few days in advance & coat it with a 'dirty' layer of icing. The icing isn't actually dirty but the first layer gets little flecks of cake in it, so for decorating purposes it's best to do the dirty layer first & then add more later! I wrap it in foil & stick it in the freezer until the day before the party. 

 The day before the party I take the cake out of the freezer & leave it on the counter for a few hours to let it 'breathe' out any condensation that might get in the way of the decorating. I then give the cake another layer of buttercream icing, don't worry, I never get any complaints about the amount of icing on the cake, using a long metal spatula & a warm cup of water to make the top layer super smooth. For the decorators icing I use gel food coloring as it makes the icing vibrant & so pretty. 

The tree on the cake is supposed to be a pixie dust tree but I didn't make any yellow icing & by the time it occurred to me to make a pixie dust tree I didn't have any more icing left & I was not really in the mood to make a whole other batch just for a bit of yellow...so I went with bright orange! Next I  added Tink & her friends & then loosely wrapped it in foil & stuck it in the fridge until the morning of the party.

Proud parents with the birthday girl!

We had a wonderful day, but most importantly, Eve had a wonderful day filled with magic, good friends & of course...cake!

Water Bowl For Russia

I'm currently working on a new water bowl for our Nanny Russia. Her old one, that I absolutely adored, somehow didn't make it in the move😕

On the upside, I get to go to my favorite pottery painting shop in Los Gatos and make her a new one. 

In my grand tradition of trying something without practicing first, I have decided to do her bowl in happy blue and yellow bubbles. 

The technique is pretty simple: fill a bowl with a squeeze of hand soap, a heavier squeeze of paint and then add water and mix it up. Now grab a straw and pretend you're a kid with a giant colorful glass of milk and start blowing bubbles! Once you've made a bunch, scoop out a handful and lightly spread them on your piece. As the bubbles pop and dry they will reveal a fun and eclectic pattern. Something to the affect of this:

This is my first time doing this, so we'll see once it's fired if it still looks cool! Fingers crossed...I will post the finished product once it's finished!

Haiku of the Day

Lipoma. Oh no!
You are but a useless thing.
Make thyself scarce, bitch.

It Just Got Real

I grew up in Houston, and although I left as fast as a plane could take me when I was 18, I will always call Texas home. I have spent most of my life in Texas (aside from five years in NY, a year in Switzerland and six months in Australia) so our move to California is both exciting and scary. The thought of it leaves a bittersweet taste in my mouth as I think of the friends and family I so wish we could take with us.

When I picture California, I of course think of sunshine and the ocean but I also think of Stevie Nicks and Joni Mitchel. There's a sense of this easy bohemian lifestyle that seems so free and easy, like late afternoon sun. Now I'm sure babies wake up in the middle of the night there, the same as they do here, and our struggles will follow us like children, but there is something so intoxicating about leaving. And it's double since we're west coast bound. 

There have been, however, moments since Jonathan's birth and during the arduous process of moving that I have felt a little lost. That this experience is happening to me rather than with me. I'm still feeling a bit like a farm animal that is required to produce milk on demand. In a land where my personal hygiene comes second, (if at all) where sleep is a long lost dream and it's all to be done with a smile on my unwashed face. This and the fact that my day and night routine will not change much, I will just be doing it in a state with better weather. All good reasons to feel a bit down. 

But this is the part where getting over ones self becomes key to survival and counting ones blessings seems like a no-brainer. When the unforgiving late summer mugginess lifts from my tired eyes and I come to. This is incredible and life is good. Too good to hardly believe. I will miss Texas and the life we have forged here, but I cannot wait for the adventure before us. It will change our lives forever, as travel and new places always does, and it will be pure joy to watch the kids take it all in. In this moment I believe Robert Plant said it best, "Made up my mind, make a new start. Goin' to California with an achin' in my heart"...yes indeed Mr. Plant, thank you. 

'The Things You Can't Remember, To The Things You Can't Forget'

I love Tom Waits. That's a line from his song Calendar Girl, and although he is certainly not referencing being a new patent, I hear that song in my head and think of the beginning. 

So here is what I can't forget:

-The first 3 months are the hardest 

-Nobody tells you quite how hard it's going to be

-You get to fall in love all over again

-You start to fear the night

-The fatigue is real and it will not let you go

-Nursing a child is the most womanly thing you can do

-Getting them to sleep in their cribs, on their backs is a challenge 

-It is a magical time that will be over before you know it

-There is nothing like watching the man you love hold your baby

And this is what I couldn't remember:

-Just how hard it is...

-...but each week gets a little bit easier

-Showering is a luxury

-Being smelly is a given

-Crying for no reason...me, not the baby

-Successful burping is a myth, whoever said it was easy, lied

-Newborns make the cutest noises, crying is not one of them

-Recovering from major surgery is a lot easier with the distractions of caring for a baby

-Newborns are cryptic

-Newborns hate baths even more than dogs

-How wonderful it is to fall in love all over again

I mean really, how could you not fall in love with this? It is so worth the struggle. Every exhausted minute of it.

Well hello there stranger

I am the WORST blogger ever, I'm sorry little blog that I have neglected you for so long. If you'll have me, I'd really like to make this work. 

Ok, now that we're better on that front, my blog has decided to be forgiving;), it recently occurred to me that I suddenly have all this time that I could be spending here. No we didn't hire a nanny, send Eve to day care or finally let Russia be her primary caregiver...we had another baby! I know that sounds a little crazy pants, how can a second child give you more free time? But it has. It may not be at the most desirable time of day, (the middle of the night) but hey, I'll take what I can get. 

I'm currently nursing Jonathan who is 12 days old and trying very hard to let my husband sleep, since once he goes back to work I will have little choice there. So I have that time, roughly 30 min, and then another 30 min after to keep him upright, so all that hard work isn't wasted on spit up, to write! I admittedly have been spending copious amounts of time on Facebook and Instagram and have decided I should  cut that cord and write a bit instead. 

Jonathan, like I said, is 12 days old. Is up over his birth weight already, weighing in at 8lbs. 4oz. and is 21 inches long. By the grace of God he will actually sleep in his crib (complete opposite from his big sister who, in the beginning, would only sleep if being held). Also by some act of Devine mercy he so far does not suffer from day/night confusion. A phenomena I thought pure myth until we went through it with Eve for about a month. 3am and she was ready to party...it was awesome...actually it was so NOT awesome that I thought I was going to lose my mind. Anyone living through that right now, I feel your pain, just know it gets better. 

Jonathan hates getting his diaper changed and true to his gender would rather be dirty, but other than that he's a pretty chill little guy. We are falling more and more in love with him every minute and we count ourselves extremely blessed that he's healthy. 

Here we are, a family of four. And I am the happiest Momma.