Merry Christmas 2011

(Ready to Be) Stuffed

Yes, I finished them. Before Christmas even (about a week ago, actually, but I didn't get around to taking a picture until today--and the picture is awful!). To get done in time, I did scale back my grand plans of embroidering everyone's name on the cuff of his/her stocking, but I'm okay with that. I stitched a border around each cuff as well as around the "patches" on B and Squish's stockings, and adding that to getting done in time to not have to stress about them on Christmas Eve, and I am going to count this as a victory.

Like all of my projects, there are things about each one of them that bug me. I can't help being a perfectionist. However, I'm not going to write any of those things in this post except to say that mine (the wonky striped one second from the left) ended up being my least favorite even though it was the one I was most excited to make. I just think it's too busy to appreciate the fact that it's a stocking, which only reaffirms my notion that I should take a step back and simplify my sewing. Design/execution flaws notwithstanding, I'm so excited to finally have stockings after 7 Christmases without! Hurray for Christmas!

P.S. Pattern found here. Yes, I modified it and no, I'm not going to post a tutorial. I'm lazy, I don't have any extra time right now (holiday madness and more!) and besides, I'm pretty sure nobody needs it before Christmas anyway.

Stitched

When we found out our little Stinker was going to be a boy (after I was so sure that he would be a girl), I immediately knew that I wanted him and Bubs to have coordinating quilts since I was pretty certain they'd be sharing a room for the rest of their lives. The problem was that Bub's quilt was already the third that I had made with that line of fabric and I had very little left. Thankfully, my sister-in-law Katherine hadn't yet made a quilt with the squares she had from our quilt block exchange in 2008 and so between her squares and my scraps I was able to just barely have enough fabric to finish off little Squish's quilt. Phew!

At first I didn't like the fact that it is so "scrappy" and colorfully unplanned, but the more I look at it the more I like it. This is a perfect fabric representation of his rambunctious, bright and zany personality and anyone who has met my boys knows that while they definitely are "cut from the same cloth," #2 is the wilder and crazier version of the our more orderly and calm #1!

Oh, and a link here to see his brother's if you want to compare. Both quilts finish at 54" square and are made out of Katie Jump Rope by Denyse Schmidt, white and tan.

P.S. In some ways I actually like the back of Squish's quilt better than the front, which makes me think I'm way over-thinking this quilt thing and should just do large colorblocks all the time rather than the comparatively complicated stuff I tend to do. Also, I just noticed between the zig-zag on the front and the colorblocking on the back, this is a pretty trendy quilt considering it was started almost 4 years ago!

Spoiled

We spent the last weekend checking out what will be our new hometown starting next year. We are excited to be moving and excited for our new town. However, there are a few things that concern me.

The first is that our apartment will be 500 square feet. For those of you with no concept of space, this is small. Very, very small. There are two bedrooms: one is 8x10 feet and the other is 10x11 feet. We (and our king-size bed) have to fit in one bedroom and our two boys have to fit in the other. The kitchen has no room for a table, so our table will be in the living room. This means there is no room for couches. Maybe a loveseat, if we squeeze it in just right. The closets are tiny and there is only one window air conditioning unit (in the living room). I'm nervous. Very, very nervous. And yet, this is the only option I've felt good about, so that's where we're going. When we got home yesterday, suddenly our 1100 square foot apartment seemed palatial. That's the first time that has happened.

Then the other issue: shopping. I'm not a big shopper with regard to clothes, shoes, etc. We've never had the money for it. Not having money is another reason that I tend to do grocery and all other shopping at various stores trying to get the best deal. Where we live now is good for that. Within 9 miles of my house I have 3 Costcos, 3 Trader Joes, 3 Old Navys a Whole Foods, 3 Targets, not to mention countless Hobby Lobbys, Wal-Marts, Jo-Ann Fabric Stores, H&M... you name it, I can find multiple locations of it and close. Within 9 miles of our new home there is 1 Old Navy, 1 Target, 1 Wal-Mart, but despite my deal-seeking, that's not the real problem. This is: the nearest Costco is 58 miles away, the nearest Trader Joes is 72 miles away and the nearest Whole Foods is 118 miles away! And so while this is distinctly a "first world problem" and I try to tell myself it's not that big a deal, I can't deny that I might be freaking out a little bit. Okay, maybe a lot.

Point being, I'm going to relish the next few months of being able to get all the organic spinach that I want and picking one Target over another because the diapers are $1.30 cheaper per pack and scouring the clearance racks at multiple Old Navys to get just what I need. And come next year, I might be taking some road trips to visit those of you who live closer to my stores of choice.