It must be almost Christmas...

I've been super busy finishing up some projects, but fun busy. Here's a quilt top for Sofia's doll cradle...

The cradle was a hand-me-down from a friend, which I decoupaged. No pictures of the cradle yet, as I haven't had too many moments to snap pictures of the gifts. And here's an almost finished fairy pagoda for Maia.

I made it from a pattern found here. I started this in early 2008 but had to put it away in the closet for months before I could bear to take it out again - too much satin stitch. It is very cute though and Maia will love it, especially since Santa is bringing some little fairies.

Lastly, there's been some gift bag making to supplement what a friend gave me last year. So far, we haven't used wrapping paper - yay! I'm sure it will remind some people in my family of my Nana, who used to wrap gifts in any old bag she could find, even a trash bag, but hey, I figure it's saving me time and money and makes me feel less wasteful.

We were supposed to leave this afternoon to begin our annual tour of California, also known as visiting our extended families. But, Sofia and Maia both came down with colds and Sofia has a fever and a stomach ache, so we decided to wait until the morning to head south and then north. What would a long car ride to visit family be without the threat of vomit? Ahhh, the holidays!

Merry, merry!

Sweet Birds and Snowflakes

Aren't these sweet? They came from Creative Kismet. She gave me the white one last year for one of her giveaways, and I bought the red one this year so they could keep eachother company. I love little birds on the Christmas tree.


And for a little winter fun, we had a little snowflake making frenzy yesterday , since it was freezing outside. Most were made with cupcake papers but these were made with paper doilies.

A Week of Firsts

I suppose any week could have some firsts, but this one had a few more than normal.

- Sofia lost her first upper tooth, she's a real jack-o-lantern now. One on the top and two on the bottom are missing, and two more are half way in on the bottom.

- The tooth fairy forgot to come for the first (and hopefully last) time. Oh dear. Oops.

- The first illness of the season - Maia had to miss school 2 days this week with a fever.

- We hired our first babysitter! After 6+ years of trading babysitting with friends we finally graduated to a real live paid babysitter. It worked out great. She is the 17 year old daughter of one of Chris' colleagues, and the girls loved her. I figure as long as we don't do it too often, they'll always be excited to have her come. That is if we can afford it!! I handed her $50 at the end of the night. Ouch.

- First frosty morning. We get a limited winter around here, so we really have to savor every frosty moment we get.

I have not a single picture this week, but I am busy working on Christmas cards, a 60th birthday gift, a doll cradle, and a fairy pagoda, so lots coming... I do have a picture that Sofia drew this week. It's an "interpretation" of my Pig painting from a while back. I may be biased but I think it's pretty good.