Charlotte's a MOMMY!

It was my freshman year of college....

12 hours away from home, in a basement dorm room, with 3 other girls I didn't know, placed together by the college.  It was one of the craziest years of my life.  And the strangest part of it all, was Charlotte.  Charlotte was one of my 3 roommates, and she was definitely peculiar.  Oh, the stories I could tell!  OK...I'll just tell a couple...

We went to a very conservative Christian college, and here is this girl, who would run to the shower naked, using her towel as a cape, shouting, "SUPER CHARLOTTE!"  She used to prank call this poor boy, Bob, every time she got a cold because she sounded like a crazy old man, but she called it her "sexy voice."  And she had this stuffed Ernie (you know...like Bert and Ernie) doll that would suspiciously start singing at 3:00 am.  (((Needless to say, Ernie had some surgery to remove his batteries pretty early in the semester!)))  HAHAHA!  I can laugh about it now, but really, we could barely stand each other then.

I don't know how it happened, but after we left school, we became pretty close, talking on the phone a couple times a month.  She was a single, wild-child radio DJ, professing her undying love for every musician she met (HA!), while I was busy getting married, becoming a nurse, and having kids.  But, despite our differences, and her crazy radio DJ lifestyle, big moves to California, Arkansas, then Florida, we have kept in touch.  And this girl who used to drive me crazy, became one of my dearest friends!

Then, in just two short years, Charlotte lost her job, moved back home, broke up with her boyfriend, reconnected with her high school sweetheart, went back to school, got married, bought a house, and got pregnant.  (I told you...she's crazy!  HA!)  She didn't want to know the sex of the baby, so she called the baby "Wilbur" from Charlotte's Web, and decorated the nursery with pages from the book, and black white, and baby blue.  And in late July, Charlotte and her husband, Justin, welcomed Andrew into their family.

So, I knew that I needed to make Andrew (a.k.a. Wilbur) some piggy love for his nursery.  I scoured the web for a cute piggy picture that I could embroider, and found the cutest little piglet drawn by illustrator,  Aaron Zenz.  (Check out his newest book - Chuckling Duckling.  It's so cute!)

Welcome to the world, Andrew!!!!

(((P.S.  Thanks to Aaron Zenz for allowing me to borrow his sketch to make this gift for my sweet friend!)))

A pig roast

Last weekend, 32 adults and 5 kids from BFG huddled together in my little house to enjoy all things "Super Bowl."    But, after having so many people here, Jared informed me that he will never invite so many again, and we both agreed that we can comfortably fit 10 tops!  There was a lot of super yummy food, though, and I got to meet a lot of great people from Jared's work.  But the highlight of the night, was the roast pig!  Jared, Ryan, and Jonathan did a great job cooking the little oinker, and I was only slightly put- off by the hooves, snout, and eyeballs (BLECK!)  (((WARNING!  Gross pig photos ahead.....)))

Here is the coffin (er...box) it was delivered in.

This is what a 32-pound pig looks like

Ryan and Jared putting the piggy on the grill.

He's all smiles now.

 Cooked to perfection.

Ryan carving the pig.

And Avery enjoying a pig hoof.  

I hope you had a happy Super Bowl weekend, too!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

On April 3rd, my Mom, Mother-in-law, and best girl friend, Lizzy, threw Micah and me the most beautiful baby shower.  The theme was a jungle tea party (jungle for Micah, and tea for Mommy!), and it was simply lovely!  My Mom made the fruit salad, gathered and wrapped a number of fun prizes for the games, and made the gift bags filled with a homemade goodies - tea holder, Baby Micah Blueberry Lemon Marmalade, and a photo album for each guest.  My Mother-in-law hauled all of her beautiful tea wares from Indiana to South Carolina, and made a huge assortment of baked goods, sandwiches, cheese balls, and tea.  Lizzy put together and orchestrated the games, and hosted the party in her lovely home.  And the whole party was a perfect!  I'm only sorry I didn't get more pictures of the event.

The lovely tea settings

Gifts for the guests

Tiny baby hats

Little lion bath towels

I wanted to do something special for these three awesome ladies - for making my shower so special and making me feel so loved.  Little did we know that I would go into labor just 22 days later, with two months of bed rest to follow...  So, buying presents was out of the question, and crafting was limited due to amount of time I was allowed (or not allowed and took anyway....ahem....) out of bed.  I did a lot of embroidery during my time on bed rest, including these three pieces:

  

For Lizzy, I embroidered this little bird in grayscale from a picture of an embroidered bird I found online and matted it in an embroidery frame, using fabric and rickrack, inspired by this little guy.  

My Mom just redid her bedroom in browns and yellows, with touches of cranberry, so I whipped up this little cutie from this pattern for her, and framed it in a frame that looks like old barn wood.

And for my Mother-in-law, I made a little brown and gold bird from the first pattern, edged in yellow rose reproduction fabric, and framed in the same old barn wood frame.

So, ladies, thank you, thank you, thank you, for making Micah's shower such a special day (a couple of months late)!!!

Baby Project #4 - Vivian

Vivian is the beautiful baby girl of a friend, Natalie, who lives down the street.  Up until she was 36 weeks pregnant, Natalie was told that her baby was going to be a boy.  So, like all good parents, Natalie and her husband Aaron, painted the baby's room blue, and had a host of little boy things to welcome their son into the world.  Needless to say, Natalie and Aaron were shocked when the ultrasound tech told them their baby was going to be a girl, and they scrambled to get their home ready for a daughter!  They changed the nursery to pink and brown, and brought their baby girl home to a grande girly welcome!

My choice for Vivian's embroidery was easy!  It needed brown and pink, and when I found this embroidery pattern, I knew I had to stitch it up for her.

I trimmed the embroidery with some  of my reproduction 1930's fabric I received for Christmas from my Mom and Dad (by the way, it is THE BEST Christmas present ever!!!), and placed it in a frame, so that Vivian can always remember that she's surrounded with love!

A girl just can't get ahead!

I wish I was the kind of person who could get ahead!  But no matter how hard I try, I am constantly down to the wire (or over it) with crafting deadlines.  Part of the reason why is that I feel like I need to have all my "other stuff" done before I can start creating.  Why do dirty bathtubs and mountains of laundry call my name louder than fabric and wool?!  I have no idea!  Poor Jared has been waiting since Christmas for his felted zombie (pictures to follow when I finally complete it!)!!!  But I finally did get my act together to turn out two little gifts for some of my sweet friends...and just in the nick of time!

Anna is having a baby boy any day now, so she received a diaper wrap...  Only this time, a friend of mine suggested using iron-on vinyl instead of using the sewn vinyl I had been using on the changing pad.  Who knew something so amazing existed?  It literally changed my life!  :o)

And for my sweet friend and neighbor, Jordan, I made her a little sewn zippered pouch, using a vintage zipper that I inherited from my grandmother's stash.  I found a tutorial here, but I tweaked the pattern a bit so I could use multiple fabrics.
I just love the bright yellow lining!  

Maybe next week I'll be able to get enough done to stock my shop again!  Happy crafting to you!

Beanbag toss

Another birthday has come and gone for our sweet friend, Brayden!  It was his third birthday, and I wanted to make him something very special.  After much thought, I came up with this fun beanbag toss game.

Colorful circles sewn onto a dark blue, starry background, and a bright yellow print on back became the play mat.  I had a bunch of Pixar-print scraps from other projects, and since Brayden loves those characters, the scraps became the bag fronts.  The other side of the beanbags have coordinating fabric to match the circles, and Jesse helped me stuff bags with navy beans.

I sewed a little "Made for You, by Amy Plew" tag on the back, and voila! a special present for the birthday boy! 

Crafting for Babies

My recent crafting has revolved around baby showers and birthday parties.  I love giving a bit of crafty love to a new generation, and now that the recipients have received their presents, here a few photos.

This puzzle ball found it's way into little Collin's newborn hands a couple of months ago.  It's made from a pattern found in one of my favorite crafty books, Last-Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts.  The pattern is super easy, and the triangular pieces are whipped up in an hour or so, and then pieced together by hand to form the ball.  Very fun to make, and addictive to play with (even for a grown up)!

This fabric beach ball pattern is from the Purl Bee (my all-time favorite place to find free crafty patterns).  Lillian is a pink and purple loving baby girl, but I really wanted to give her something with a pop of fun color for her birthday.  And who doesn't love a bit of retro orange and red flower fabric?!

(((Please forgive the horrible lighting in this picture!  I took it seconds before the party started!)))  This one is my go-to baby shower gift - a fabric wrap with 3 pockets (one for diapers, one for wipes, and one for a handmade changing pad).  The changing pad has a vinyl lining so it can be wiped off easily, and the whole wrap is trimmed in vintage pink binding.  There is a terrible lack of fabric stores in my area, so Walmart is my only choice in a pinch, unless I have three hours of my life to spend driving to and from Savannah with a nearly-three-year-old boy, who hates the fabric store!  :o)  But this fabric was so cute (even for Walmart), and I couldn't resist!  And I think that baby Mary's Momma will appreciate having all of the diaper changing necessities close at hand in a pretty pink wrap!

an end-of-week tea party

I had a very long workweek!  When I'm not being crafty, I am a nurse on a very busy medical/surgical unit, and recently my patients have kept me ridiculously more busy than usual.  Between patient and family requests, medically necessary tasks (wound care, dressing changes, assisting patients with ambulation, giving out meds....) and the insurmountable amount of paperwork, I feel like most of my day is spent chasing my tail.  So, on my day off, I decided to have a tea party.  My friend, Lizzy, came over on her lunch hour and we got to share an assortment of tea sandwiches, scones, desserts, and of course - tea!  It was a lovely break in the week to indulge in something so girly, not rushed, and not ruined by the lingering smells of body fluids, that often haunt my workweek lunches.