mr. monkeysuit

Happy New Year

A little new year's gift for the kiddos. One for Floyd and of course one for Cissie.

Felt crowns inspired by Soulemama and wands inspired by angry chicken. 

2007. Wow what a year. So very much has happened in our home, it has been amazing. A year filled with achievements where years of quiet plodding work finally came to fruition. Especially for Andy, but more about that in a minute.
This is the year Cissie learned both to walk and talk and has filled out hearts ever since with toddler delights such as furiously nodding her head whilst saying please, spontaneously saying the word wiggles, dancing her way through the whole year and belting out  "mooooo" every time we have yogurt (there was one evening where we ALL sat around the table mooing and laughing till our bellies hurt).
Floyd started school and started well. He has grown so much this year. So tall and so beautiful. My heart melts whenever I see his very first school photo. There he is, doing something without us, a whole life of his that I am not there for, so independent. I am at once so proud and so jealous.
And so utterly in love with my babies.
But this year has really been one for Andy.  So very much has happened for him and I am beyond proud. It goes into the realm of something entirely different. This year Andy got tenure, his green card, a fellowship, a very important book contract and now he has won a very prestigious award. 
(bragging details to follow in a few weeks)
I always knew in my heart what an incredibly talented, clever and funny man he was but what never ceases to amaze me is what a wonderful husband and father he is too. I love you Andy and I hope 2008 makes all your other dreams come true.
Happy New Year to everyone who has taken the time to read and join in with this space. I have loved being here, a part of this wonderful sharing community. Come on 2008!

How beautiful

This arrived for me the day after Christmas and I just can not believe how incredibly beautiful it is. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Sarah. It is more stunning than I ever imagined, I was in awe when I opened the package, I just couldn't believe how perfectly it suits me.

And the fact that it came framed......well now I am just about in love.

I hope you all had wonderful, peaceful and fun holidays. Isn't amazing how quickly it all just flies by and there is weird mixture of relief and slight sadness when it is all over ? We had a lovely, lovely time and I am reminded time and again how incredibly lucky we are to have each other and what an amazing family I am blessed with.

harold

Harold was just enjoying a lazy morning in bed....

when he remembered he was due to appear at a Christmas party . Quick as a flash he, threw off his quilt, jumped into his  plaid suit and hopped on his Vespa.
Phew, he made it just in time.

Nothing like a bit of last minute crafting.
Pattern from this book.

ISBN 4-529-04114-X

cute

cute

CUTE.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Christmas stocking garland, made last year but funnily enough I like them more this year.

I got the idea from here but I used felt for mine and I made 25 because it is meant to be used as an advent calendar though this year it is neglectfully empty.

Stockings for the family, but I will be making myself a new one using this fabric because I realize that I am the only one with a red stocking, even the dog's stocking is more in keeping. (his is the green one)
Little Claire made Floyd the blue robot one two years ago so I made Andy and Frances ones to match but of course couldn't quite get to mine...lazy...lazy.
Speaking of lazy, here is a list of the things I have not done nor will be doing this Christmas:

cards - not bothering. Sorry if you were expecting one from me, just couldn't get to it this year. I will however be completely miffed if I don't receive a bumper load of them myself.

cooking turkey - no-one likes it in our house. We are having a different 'festival meat' (Andy's terminology) this year.

entertaining - no-one's invited (except for one or two peeps) and I won't be throwing our annual Boxing Day party.  I am deliriously happy at the thought of a quiet Christmas with my babies, building train tracks and having picnics on the living room floor...just heavenly.

freaking out about shopping / making presents - I've done most of it and what isn't done most likely won't happen so now I plan on just relaxing in front of the fire and driving Andy crazy with my relentless abuse of Christmas FM. Floyd knows *all* the words to jingle bell rock and boy oh boy you should hear his ending.
Hope you are all feeling the festive spirit.

Christmas shopping list

So, alright I am pretty late at getting round to this and also there have been so many rocking ideas put out there already BUT here are some more anyway.

I love just about everything at Three Potato Four. This cute glass and how adorable is this little lady. It is such a neat little shop and they frequently update it with original vintage finds.Love these toadstools from Nova. I want them for me as much as for the kids, how cute would they be on your mantle.

I am totally going crazy about these alphabet cards from Mahar Dry Goods. Wouldn't they be perfect for this empty wall.

Lordy, this set has me going a little nuts too but it has a price tag that makes me see reason.

And finally, I adore every single thing over at The Small Object, these tins, so cute. These stamps and these stickers all so cute and really perfect for stocking stuffers. *I SAID*, THEY WOULD BE REALLY PERFECT FOR STOCKING STUFFERS.
Just checking.

matching doll quilt

Cissie has a little friend who comes over a couple of times a week who is particularly fond of this little set-up. Not the dolls, nor the bed, nor the blanket but the pillow. She loves the little pillow. She will happily chuck out the dollies out of the stroller and gently place in the little pillow which she then pushes round the house with more than a little glee. So when it came to making her Christmas gift, the choice was obvious.

It just so happens, this is the same little girl who received this quilt, so of course I made it to match, despite the fact that I still don't love bright colors. But who amongst us could resist matching quilts, right?

hey ho

Here's a little dress I knit up for Cissie, ok well actually I knit this particular dress twice, well alright three times if you include the other one I made.

Here is the first one I made. It was a breeze, knit up so quickly using Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino nice easy pattern from the same book as this sweater. This was Cissie's christening dress so I used some ribbon and a button from my wedding dress.

Here is the second one I made...let me tell you about the second one.

I knit the back. I knit the front. They didn't match. Not only did they not match each other, neither of them matched anything in the pattern, not the measurements, not the number of stitches...nothing. I. Don't. Know. That's all I'm sayin' about it.

I knit this one using Mondial Giada silk/wool yarn. Thank goodness this yarn is so forgiving. We all know why, let's not go over it again.

what the ?

A glass hippo paperweight. Why ? I don't know why but I did have to have it. Made by Viking Glass, there is a ton of it on eBay including very cute mushrooms. I am an appalling collector, because I collect a little bit of everything, rather than just one style or brand. I have a china cabinet crammed so full, everything wobbles when you walk past it. It is about to become a beautiful mush of mosaic china.

For now though, it is full of beautiful tea cups and saucers, plates, jugs, bowls, vases, tiles, mugs and pots of starburst, bridgewater, kaj franck, wiinblad, rob ryan and so many more unknown designers. I know I am not alone in this, I think most of us crafters have a tendency to hoard, gather and stash. I always manage to justify it because most of it is thrifted or bought cheap on eBay but I think I have finally reached saturation point. There is no more room in the cabinet so I really have to stop collecting, maybe even trim back a bit......or buy a bigger cabinet.

simple quilt

Thank you, everybody, for all the quilt love. I had no idea whip up included me and was pleasantly surprised to find the quilt was a hit in blog-land. And thank you also to angry chicken for the mention, I'll have to admit now to buying both the Jen Corace prints (but I did really need them for my study, love).
Moving on.
Here's another very simple quilt that is no longer in our house.

I didn't do any piecing on this one at all. It is just two yards of fabric, a layer of batting, hand-tied and backed with a wool/cashmere blend.  Very warm and cozy and not at all itchy, like I thought it might be.

I added a few pieces of colorful fabric in the binding.

And just as I was about to pack the whole thing off with Floyd to school. I noticed a hole in the back, suspiciously like a moth hole. There's a matching felt appliqué on the back now. Flippin' moths they may have done me a favor, it looks so darn cute like that. Still, that is no invitation for you moths to come back for more.

The boy of course loves it. Trains and cars, he couldn't be happier.