Ashland!!!

Well, Ashland is as wonderful as it ever was. I had a SUPER relaxing weekend with my aunts and cousins and took full advantage of the fact that I had NO responsibilities! We stayed at the Siskiyou House, which is an old and gorgeous brick home that the owners have decorated perfectly and filled with all kinds of comfy chairs, extra fluffy white towels, and huge white feather beds. It was so cozy and perfect. We did all the things I love to do - work on our sewing projects together, sing old songs, play board games, walk around the park, tell funny stories... it was very therapeutic and I feel totally refreshed.I definitely recommend renting this house if you are in the market for a vacation home in southern Oregon. This is the third house we've rented in Ashland and it was by far the best. The owners were SO nice and even encouraged us to use the fresh basil from their garden!
The house was located within walking distance of all the downtown shops as well as the park, so I'm hoping that I did enough physical activity to walk off all the fudge I kept eating (yeah right!). I did a lot of shopping and found a wonderful little fabric store, where I bought myself a big project... more on that later.

I did miss my boys, though, and it is very nice to be back. Moses seems so much taller since I left and I was only gone for 4 days!

Going out of town... again.

It seems like we just returned from our fabulous weekend in the mountains, and I am repacking my bags for a mommy-only trip to Ashland, OR. Every summer all the girls on my mom's side of the family rent a house up there and spend the weekend sitting around talking and sewing, walking in the park, browsing the shops, and attending Shakespeare plays. It is WONDERFUL! Brett and Moses are taking advantage of my absence by going on a "boys only" camping trip with some friends. It's probably just as well that they've left me out, since sleeping on the ground at 20 weeks pregnant doesn't sound too appealing to me! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and once I return I promise to be better about updating my blog (and posting new items in my shop!).

Polka Dots and Swirls

I just listed this play mat in the shop. In fact, that's about all I got done today. We enjoyed a fabulous weekend at our friends' cabin in Twain Harte and got home late last night. Luckily, Moses let us sleep in this morning, which got the day off to a nice, non-productive start. I should have finished sewing a blanket for the shop, done about 3 loads of laundry, and vacuumed the house, but I didn't. I did, however, build an awesome tower out of blocks this afternoon... that counts for something, right? :)

Happy Anniversary!

Yesterday Brett and I celebrated our 8 year anniversary. We had a really nice time going to a "fancy" restaurant, browsing around Santana Row, and then finishing the evening off with a stop by our favorite candy shop. It's pretty crazy to realize how young we were when we got married - 19 & 22! But getting married to Brett never felt like a crazy decision, and it's been one of the best decisions of my life.

SO... to celebrate a little bit more, I'm having a short sale in the shop for my blog readers. Just type "8 years" in the "notes to seller" section of check-out, and you will get 15% off your purchase of anything in the shop. (Don't pay until I send you a revised invoice!) Sale ends at midnight tomorrow (Thurs. the 17th). Have fun!

Treasure

We're having a garage sale this upcoming weekend, so I've been rummaging around in some of my mom's old unfinished crafting projects. She was notorious for starting crafts and never finishing them, and I have to admit a bit of that has rubbed of on me!
Well, amidst the cross-stitch instructions, embroidery hoops, ribbons, yarn, fabric, and other crafting items, I found this lovely, FINISHED piece of handsewing. I think it is absolutely gorgeous! I had a bit of trouble photographing the entire piece, but the close-up pictures give an idea of the detail involved.
I'm so excited to have found this! I'm going to frame it, and, someday when I have an available wall, hang it up - hopefully in my future sewing room!

I should have been a pioneer

These scraps fell out of the scrap basket in a big heap and I immediately realized that they had to be sewn together into ... something. They were really tiny scraps - I can never bring myself to throw even the smallest scrap of fabric away. I always start thinking about the Little House on the Prairie books, where the women would remake their dresses inside-out to mask the wearing out of the "calico" and then, after the other side of the fabric wore out, would make the old dress into a quilt. Fabric is precious!
So I did a lot of cutting, sewing, and ironing, and this is what those scraps turned into:

They smell so good!!! I just finished listing them in the shop.

Also, if you are looking for a quick and fantastic sewing project, hop on over to sewmommysew's blog for a great maternity skirt tutorial. I definitely plan on making one of these for myself... I'm in major need of some cute warm-weather maternity clothes!

Modern Summer

I listed this little patchwork security blanket in the shop the other day. I seriously think turquoise and orange is my new favorite color combination. Plus I'm super excited about how the pictures of this turned out - I finally started taking photos outside, and the colors come out much truer.
And special thanks to Jodi over at Every Day Beautiful for featuring my security blankets! Check out her shop - it is where I bought the fabric for this blanket and lots of the others. You'll definitely find it hard to leave without buying something!

Happy Monday!

It was a lovely weekend here, starting with a berry-picking expedition with Moses' friend Matteo. We walked up the road to the wild blackberries, which are finally starting to ripen in the heat. This is one of Moses' all-time favorite summer time activities, and it was fun to have friends to share it with.
Then on Sunday we went to the Contra Costa County Fair (say that three times fast...) to check out the animals. This poor guy is on his way to the auction block, but we didn't tell Moses that.
We love the fair and had fun doing all that once-yearly stuff like eating too much cotton candy, paying $5 to throw a baseball into a hole it obviously won't fit in, and riding the carousel until the cotton candy is threatening to make a reappearance. Fun, fun, fun. I hope you all had a great weekend and are off to a wonderful week!

Almost Finished...

Just a few more stitches on these two and they will be in the shop.

It's a ...

BOY! We just had our 17 week ultrasound and found out that Moses is going to have a baby brother. All three of us are thrilled - and I'm so happy I get to reuse some of Moses' cute baby clothes. :) Now it's on to the task of finding the perfect name...