Yeah for batteries!

The camera has batteries again! I've been busy, but my sister Joyce has been busier. Here is a photo of my brand new niece, Kara Elizabeth.



I get to see her next week. I just finished making her the snuggy wrap blanket from Amy Butler's Little Stitches for Little Ones.



It has a hood and everything. My baby blanket had a hood. It was white with bunnies on it with a silky yellow trim. Here's hoping Kara remembers this blanket when she's 36. The hood is key. It allows you to play super hero and run around with your "cape" flying behind you.





Here's a picture of my baby lounging on her favorite chair.



Corey and I had out back porch painted white. My dad also painted my porch swing (my birthday gift from Corey) when he was here a few weeks back too. I ordered some outdoor fabric and made a seat cushion and a few pillows for it. I think it looks nice.

I bought a few purple passion flower vines and got lucky and found some black and white pots at Home Depot. Hopefully, by next summer the vines will be crawling all over the trellis. Next is to hang twinkle lights and maybe install a ceiling fan. A rug and a few chairs and we'll be ready to entertain back there. I wish I had taken some before pictures. It was pretty bare. We had the deck built when we bought the house. There was just a 10'x10' patch of concrete at first. That's it. I love it back there now. It's so peaceful.






I also did a little rearranging in my craft room. In his book Apartment Therapy: The Eight-Step Home Cure, Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan of Apartment Therapy talks a little bit about his aunt (I think) and how her book collection ended up being a burden over the years. If you had asked me a year ago, I would have NEVER been swilling to give up books. But I did a brave thing and donated all but a few that mean something special to me. Now I haver room to display a few things on the bookcase.






I just got the Audrey doll from Little Big Pants. Isn't she adorable? I was going to put my hair in pigtails and take a picture of Audrey and Audrey wearing my red with white polka dot skirt. I may still. I am such a dork.

Hello there. It's been awhile.

My supercrafty friend Molly has convinced me to start blogging about my own crafty endeavors. I have started sewing. My dad bought me a sewing machine sometime around my graduation from high school. It has been collecting dust for about 18 years, but now that I have moved to Austin and have my own craft room,




it is finally getting some use. I just bought the painting sitting on my desk. I have been in love with it for over a year. When bonus time came at work, I finally had the money to buy it. It's by Bailey Saliwanchik.

The watercolors on the window sill behind my sewing machine are prints of the French Riveria I bought on my honeymoon. I love how they look like stained glass windows with the morning light shining through.

I took the Sewing 101 class at Craft-O-Rama back in April or May. We made a cute reversible bag. I'll post a photo soon. Since then I haven't stopped.

Next I made this pillow for the living room. You can see that Roni has been here.


Then I made a whole slew of pillows for the family room.



Corey and I had the walls painted blue. We thought that yellow would be a good accent color for the blue walls and green couch. Now we think the room is too dark. I think we are going to end up changing the wall color. We'll see what else changes.