Happy Birthday

Our little man is 3 months old today!

I've been away from blogging while we focused on kissing his little cheeks. So a quick update.  On 11/11/11 at 1:23pm, a super sweet, super kissable, super EARLY Frank Patrick decided he couldn't wait any longer. At 5 weeks early, he jumped ship - and after having been on bedrest for 5 weeks, this mama could not have been any happier.  He was itty bitty - but completely healthy. He knew his time had come, and he wanted a really cool birthday.  

We are having a blast, and learning how to get by with absolutely no sleep.  AND - Frank's seen a show, been in a show (video coming soon) and sat in on auditions!  

Happy Birthday Little Man! It's been such a journey already, can't wait for the adventures that lie ahead! 

A few pics from his first month with us...

Delivery!

 Itty Bitty and his Great Grandma.

love the cousin love - from my sisters blog.

 Tiny Toes!

So much love to give.

Time to hit the PAUSE button

    This has proved to be quite an interesting week.  I went in to the doctor last Friday for what I thought was a pulled muscle. It turned out I was having contractions. After a few follow up appointments we learned that this little guy in my belly is really eager to meet the world sooner than he should.

   I've been put on complete bedrest.  For those who know my crazy schedule this is quite a drastic change.  This not only means I've stopped teaching/directing children's theatre until next year... but all of my upcoming craft shows and classes have sadly been canceled/postponed.  No more big belly's selling crafty goodness for now.

    My emotions have been all over the place. I go from worrying about his health, to being selfishly sad about all I'll be missing out on (like Nick Cacciola and Jamie Price's wedding, aka The Wedding of the Century in NY, which we were supposed to attend at the end of the month), to being overwhelmed with gratitude because my family and friends have been so helpful and supportive, to feeling empowered by the choice to stay put and make the health of our new family most important.

    The first night after learning about my new "condition" my friend Chris Shin posted this lovely video on Facebook with the comment "Breathing."  While I know he had no idea what was going on in my life at the time, I could not believe how apropo this sweet little song was.

    This has become our new theme song. Hang On Little Tomato!

Just hang on, hang on to the vine
Stay on, soon you'll be divine
If you start to cry, look up to the sky
Something's coming up ahead
To turn your tears to dew instead

And so I hold on to his advice
When change is hard and not so nice
You listen to your heart the whole night through
Your sunny someday will come one day soon to you
    

Marketplace at Dragonfly - This Sunday in Orange

So, if you can pull yourself away from Vogue Knitting, you should make your way to the Marketplace at Dragonfly Shops and Gardens in Old Towne Orange.


Here's a few of the pieces I'll be bringing to welcome in the fall followed by the show info.

I'm also planning another make and take felted moustache table. Learn to needle felt your own mustache!

Vendors from all over Orange County will be selling their wares: 
Clothing, Vintage Handmade Jewelry, Hats, Bottle Cap Jewelry, Feather Extensions, Button Wraps, Fabric Flowers, Lighted Bottles, Decorative Cake Plates, Shell Art, Gourmet Cookies, Swarovski Crystal Accessories,
Holiday Decorations, Hair Accessories, Home Décor,
Children’s Fashions, Baby Clothing and Accessories, Candles,
Homemade Soaps, Wind chimes, Scarves, Tole Painting, Photography,
Mixed Media Artwork, Potted Succulents, Handmade Wooden Boxes,
Beautiful Butterfly Art, Yard Décor, more Jewerly,
Skin Care Products, Gourmet Food and much more!
Raffle Prizes-No Purchase Necessary

Dragonfly Shops and Gardens
260 North Glassell Street
Orange, CA 92866
714-289-4689
Dragonflyshopsandgardens.com

Fall Felting Classes...

Spent a lot of time with my calendar and I'm happy to announce my Fall Felting Classes.  Locations are TBD... but classes will be in or around the City of Orange.

A Few Felted Nursery Items

I've started making a few pieces for our little man's room.  We're going with a Forest Theme - with a mid century modern flair. These pieces don't really hit on the MCM side of things, but there's more to come.


This first pic is of a needle felted Forest Mobile. I'm still going to do a few adjustments cause I'm worried some of these guys might be a bit creepy. Work in progress!

Here's a 30" x 20" wall hanging I needle felted with the help of my niece. She did the wool canvas which was super time consuming - so yay Jessica!

I took a few pics along the way - so here's the process in reverse.

Search for the perfect nursery

One majorly weird thing about my pregnancy is that I've not been stressing about it AT ALL! I'm usually one to worry and get worked up, but little Frankie seems to have a somewhat calming effect on me. Maybe it's the cutting back on coffee. 

That being said... I do need to get some sort of fire under my booty. Hubby and I keep saying we'll start making nursery, registry, and baby prep class decisions in September... which is just around the corner. 

So, in honor of our approaching due date, here's a few images I'm hoping will inspire our nursery.

Loving these prints from Roy Fleeman's Etsy shop

I love everything in Helen Dardik's etsy shop. I bought this print, and love it. (Although I do wish it were bigger) She has so many prints that I think would be perfect in a girls room... but might be a little too girly for our little mister. 

And, of course - I'm loving Charley Harper these days.  They carry several books and this memory game at one of my favorite shops... Otto in Downtown Fullerton. Planning a trip there again sometime soon. 

What are your favorite Mid Century Modern inspired Nursery ideas?

Wonderful Wisconsin Wool!

While on a family trip to Wisconsin, we went to the County Fair to see our niece, Olyvia's blue ribbon winning 4H cow, Loosy Moosy.

After seeing her beautiful dairy cow, we headed toward the sheep. I met a lovely sheep shearer named Dan, who offered to give me 200 POUNDS of wool. He needed the space, and wanted it to go a happy home. WHAT!!!???

We called him the next day and took a quick field trip to his farm.

This was the only actual sheep he had onsite. She was too old to breed, and he saved her life by giving her a retirement plan. We got a giant bag of her wool in addition to a few bags from sheep of different breeds.

While we were taking pics, my amazing Mother-in-law spun up some of the wool in the car.

Here's some of the Leicester wool straight out of the bag.

Dan told us, we could gently unravel the wool and it would stay together in one piece. Then, we could easily remove the dirtier pieces. he was totally right!

Here's some wool from a Jacob sheep. I am so excited about these colors. 

After we picked out the really dirty chunks, we used my in-laws mini vacuum to suck out the air so the bags would fit on the plane. 

Such a fun adventure! I'm so glad we were able to thank the little Dorset for her wool. She gave a very loud "You're Welcome"