ahhh...vacation

I can't believe I was just there. In St. Martin, St. Thomas and the Bahamas. All of my photos look like postcards. It was just that beautiful. I missed Lillian so much toward the end of the week but the trip was long overdue and just so perfect.

There is one season in the Caribbean and it's a nice one but what a nice season to come back to with the changing of the leaves and Christmas right around the corner.

Busy in the Little City

Life around here has been hectic and heartwarming all at the same time. September through January is a busy time in the Gamble Household. There's my birthday, then Lillian's birthday, then our anniversary, then Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas. And in the middle of all of that Chad and I scheduled a week long vacation. Lillian didn't come with us and I can honestly say that I will never leave her for 8 days again....not until the back talk starts then we may have a room to rent.

Yes, You Can Find Cute Stuff For Boys!

At the request of one of my favorite Etsians (Leslie of This and That), I made this cute little set. Sweet sweet baby shoes, appliqued burp cloth and a monogrammed paci clip. Too cute for that little nephew of hers:) Thanks, Leslie! Oh, and if you need any supplies at all for your small business, Leslie is always happy to help. And what a great job she does!

The Craziness That Is My Life

So, I love dooce. This is one of the many blogs that I check up on daily. Heather Armstrong keeps me laughing with just about every post. Out loud. I was completely inspired by her monthly newsletters to her daughter so I decided to do the same thing for Lil. We are now in our 2nd year of Lillian's life and monthly I write to her. Just so I won't forget the little things that happen between the big moments. After the first 12 months I uploaded everything to shutterfly and made a photo book out of it. It's a keepsake that I hope she will treasure forever. We are now in the 23rd month so another book will be ordered soon. Some months are very sentimental, some are funny and some are just REAL. I'll share with you one of the real ones here. Please keep in mind that I love my daughter to no end and that perhaps I should have shared with you one of the more loving entries first but that would be no fun. Having said that, here's Lillian's 22nd month:

Dear Lillian,
You are now 22 months old. WOW! You will be a 2 years old in just 2 months. That’s a lot of twos. And speaking of twos. I vow to never allow the TWO of us back into Walmart at the same time. Our last trip was a fiasco. An absolute nightmare for everyone involved and I mean EVERYONE. The meat man, the pharmacist and even that little boy who was busy showing us how well some kids can act while shopping--WITHOUT opening five different snacks or being slipped some Tylenol PM.
Anyway, it all started when I decided to try Spin Class for the first time. I have been avoiding this class as if it had herpes because I knew my body would feel the effects long after the herpes had cleared. My plan: First I would go to work, then I would rush home to change, then I would go to Spin Class, then I would pick you up, then the two of us would hold hands and skip merrily into your own private hell---Walmart. That was a fool proof plan for sure but for some reason, I didn’t take into account the amount of sweating that I would do in this class. I probably didn’t think about it because I don’t sweat much. Instead my face turns so red it looks almost purple for two full hours after I’ve exercised. It’s embarrassing. Well, this class caused my face to turn purple AND caused me to sweat like a 400 lb man. Seriously. My hair was soaked. But anyway, I’m not the one who turned 22 months old today so on with the story. Okay, I looked like crap obviously so I drove over to pick you up with the air going full blast. Now the only difference is that my face is cold and purple and my hair is cold and wet and a little wind blown. When I arrive, you had evidently just finished jello wrestling with one of your buddies. I was initially relieved that you had gotten this out of your system at such a young age AND with your clothes on then I remembered that we had to go to Walmart. Your dress was covered in red jello stains. Wait, not just your dress but your shoes too. And Daddy hadn’t put a diaper cover on you that morning so your diaper was sagging below your dress. And not only that, but your face was stained with jello too. Right across your cheek so that when we got to Walmart, and you were screaming bloody murder because you were so excited to be there, it looked as though you were screaming bloody murder because I had just smacked you across the face. Hard. If this gives you any idea of how the rest of the trip went you‘re probably still way off. Not only was everyone staring at us because you were loving life so much but when they looked at us to see what the heck was going on they saw two humans who quite possibly had just been involved in some sort of disaster. A major disaster that had caused us both great harm. Anyway, I’ll never take you back to Walmart. You win. And, by the way, I know you put the tortillas back on the shelf after I put them in the buggy. I couldn’t find them when I got home. You didn’t have to do that. I had already decided not to take you shopping ever again when you started screaming because I wouldn’t let you eat the frozen fish sticks. You didn’t have to put those tortillas back. That was a low blow.
Love,
Mama

Spell with flickr

How cool is this?!?!?! So this is the whole reason that I visited Nested in the first place. Then I got side tracked and saw my paci clips there and got all giddy. Anyway, I was visiting one of my favorite blogs How about orange when I ran across this super cool tool Spell with flickr. You just enter the word you want to spell and then it grabs images of the letters from flickr to spell your word! If you don't like the letter chosen, simply click it and it will choose a different one. Oh, I may be here all night! Go check it out.

It's Always Thrilling

It's always thrilling to be featured on someone's blog but even more thrilling when you follow a link to a blog and there you are! Featured and you didn't even know it. I almost missed it too. Just happened to scroll down a little farther and there were my paci clips. Cute little fellas. Oh, and not just because I'm there, please check out Nested It really is a super cool blog featuring super cool stuff. Like my paci clips:)

Just Checking In

Just checking in as I'm trying to get better at this blogging thing. I read so many wonderful blogs and I'm so envious of all of the creative talent out there. I was a late bloomer when it came to sewing. I've always had these crafty ideas buzzing around in my head but I could never put my finger on what it was that I wanted to do. In highschool and college it was writing. Soon after marriage it was decorating my spaces. And now that Lillian has been born it is sewing. My mother always had her sewing machine out. Always. I remember being told to never use the THOSE scissors to cut out my paperdolls. I remember always having to stop what I was doing to model her latest creation. She taught me to cross stitch at age five. I still have my first project: a brown owl about the size of my thumb and just about as interesting. I picked up sewing again around age 8 and made a ballet skirt out of a sheer scarf and ribbon and then a denim skirt. And then I stopped. I picked it back up about 5 years ago but was terrified of patterns until very, very recently. Now I can't stop. I want to make everything for Lillian. Anyway, back to the blog envy. Since I have been such a late bloomer, I have no clue how to change patterns up to meet my needs much less create my own patterns. I stumble upon this and I just want to cry. I mean weep for the absolute talent that this woman has. After reading Heather's blog I have to wipe up the drool. She's amazing and such an inspiration. I'll just have to live with sewing by patterns for now. Here's my latest: a sweet little summer outfit for Lil. I couldn't be more pleased...except that I really wanted it to be reversible but the pattern didn't call for that...oh well.

The Sweetest Thing

I could post some photos of recent projects here but in looking through my photos this one just jumped out at me. Is it not just the sweetest thing? Lillian has her head cocked to the side listening so intently to her Nana. I think they were both in heaven here. I did make the outfit that Lil is wearing so I guess I did find a way to work a project in after all.

Lounging Around

I am so proud of this little lounge set. I think I am so proud because I designed it all myself and Lillian was so excited to put it on and happily let me take pictures of her on our swing that is desperately in need of a new paint job. I'll add that to the list of things to do...wait! It's already on there. Anyway, take a peek and let me know what you think.

Has It Really Been A Month

Wow! I can't believe it's already been a month since I last blogged. What a slacker. Anyway, life has been busy, busy, busy.

My niece was living with us for a while and she is just 16 months older than my little Lil so time got away from me before I knew it. In the mean time I messed around and designed some new paci clips. My sweet friend, Kerrie, was so excited that she ordered four. Now that's one safe pacifier. Here's a peek:

They are just too cute and I'm making more as we speak. Life is never boring and there's always 5 other things that I should be doing so gotta go for now!

Everything But the Blog

Okay, so I haven't been faithful with this new blog but who's got time between reading everyone else's blog, working full-time, sewing, bathing babies and cooking dinner? I mean seriously. Anyway, I found the coolest blog this week and now I am a faithful reader. Marie over at The Stitching Barn is the coolest mom ever. I envy her and all of her creative ideas...I'm already in the process of stealing her glass etching idea. She gives credit to her friend and neighbor Lorinda who I will be ordering vinyl from in just a few minutes.

If you want to talk sewing then here's some photos of a couple of sets I recently finished for a friend of mine. I think they turned out quite sweet now only if I had time to post them in my shop.

Oh and for those of you kind enough to find my blog and tag me. Thanks! I promise I'll get to that. Just as soon as I find out why Lillian is in the other room screaming...

The First Big Try

Why is it that you always enjoy reading others' blogs but never think that yours would be interesting? I have all of these ideas in my head but trying to get them out of there is the problem. Somewhere in the space between this screen and my head, those thoughts get jumbled and well...turn out like this. Anyway, I'm giving this a try.

These booties are my latest project.

I made them to match a dress that I was commissioned to do for a sweet lady in Wales. My Etsy friend, Ginger, of Huckleberry Baby made the most beautiful quilt from this fabric and then asked me to make a matching dress and booties. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be but dresses take me so long that I don't enjoy making them unless they are for my daughter and I can see them day in and day out either hanging in her closet or on her little body. I get attached to my projects and it was hard sending this set off to it's new home across the Atlantic. I've got the pictures though and that keeps me inspired to do more.