practically sewing

I have been doing lots of practical sewing lately.  I love making functional things--it makes me feel really thrifty (even if it would cost less to just buy it!) and old fashioned.  I didn't anticipate how much I'd love sewing for my little baby.  I am pretty sentimental/emotional anyway, but pregnant me is kind of over-the-top sappy.  While I'm sewing I like to think about this little soul I will be meeting soon and my mind wanders all over the place, from wondering if he'll have hair, to if he'll love the mountains, to if he'll be a smarty-pants like his papa.  It's been very therapeutic, especially when I'm not feeling that great, to quietly sew and think about these things.



First I made a small tower of chenille burp cloths using Dana's tutorial (very soft!).  

And this is baby's lumberjack blanket.  I love flannel--so soft and homey!  And the fuzzy side feels just like Gesso's ears.

I have been quietly collecting baby flannel for a few years, knowing that it would eventually get made into a pile of receiving blankets--and it finally did!  I had already planned on keeping things gender neutral (no sense in having to start from scratch after each baby!), so I stuck to my favorites--lots of blue and green.

I thought these quick change diaper kits were such a swell idea that I whipped up a few (tutorial).  They contain a homemade changing pad, some wipes, a onesie, and some *tiny* diapers.  I plan on throwing one in my purse, one in the car, and maybe even one in the ski bag (wishful thinking??).

And I know that baby boy isn't really going to care what his toys look like, but I will.  And using the pattern in Handmade Beginnings, I made my own Henny Penny.  She was a labor of love (those baby birds were such a pain!), but I think she was worth it.

If you lift up her wing her babies are stuck with their velcro wings.  Can you even stand how cute that is??

 

 And some more weird little toys.  This sun ray toy (stuffed with that crinkly envelope-window stuff) made from this tutorial, and some ribbon-triangle-bells things (I lost the link to the tutorial--oops!).

 I also made a little bear out of some wool scraps (using this tutorial), and I even made him some corduroy pants with suspenders and a bow tie......and he turned out kind of creepy.  I still can't decide if it's good creepy or just creepy creepy.  So I didn't take his picture.

Whew.  Who's ready for a nap?

Monday Things

 

 

Monday things:

:: Gesso likes the new rug (me too).

::  We have grapes!  Thinking of starting a small grape juice company.

::  We live by the very best park ever.

::  The wildflowers are out of the box!  

Happy Monday to you!

weekending

After witnessing last weekend eaten up by home projects (again), I decided that it was time to make some changes.  Because you see, all work and no play not only makes Holly dull, but also pretty cranky.  So now there are some pretty serious rules in place that every other weekend is to be spent doing fun things.

So this weekend I tore my irrigation engineer away from the sprinkler system, and goshdarnit, we had ourselves some FUN.

 

 We went to dinner at a friends house and came home with an alarming amount of produce.  My favorite part would have to be all those juicy raspberries.  Don't worry, I sent that bucket back full of cookies--I'm secretly hoping to establish a symbiotic relationship.  

We also played in the mountains.  

And then there were milkshakes.

*burp*

the september scene

It's been a rough couple of weeks as I've been dealing with some kidney issues (is it hydronephrosis or kidney stones?? it seems no one can decide...).  I spent several days whimpering on the sofa, but that got old pretty fast.  So I came to the conclusion that as long as I was going to be uncomfortable anyway, I might as well be getting stuff done.  And wouldn't ya know, I'm starting to feel a little better.  As it turns out, sulking isn't good for anybody.  Plus I get to be pregnant, which is pretty cool.

I feel like I'm behind on a lot of things as I've been moving at a much s-l-o-w-e-r pace these days, but don't worry, I've been taking a few pictures.

I took this picture from a helicopter!  Just kidding.  It's a picture of a mini car show I spotted last Saturday while walking around downtown.  I can seriously see myself getting into model trains once I'm old enough.  I love miniature anything!

I'm so glad to finally have my full kitchen back.  It was a weird few months of making do with just a little bit unpacked, but now that everything is finally out, I am very very happy.  And I can't stop baking--oops!

Here is a grainy picture of me in front of my new blue wall!  I blend right in.  I can't wait to show you more photos, but we are still getting everything settled.  Soon enough.

We have averaged a watermelon per week this summer.  I can't get enough of them!  We found these little yellow melons at the farmers market and they are fantastic.  

This picture makes me laugh so hard.  I had been up early sorting books (by color, of course), and Evan had to squeeze in to eat his cereal.  He looks annoyed, but in actuality, that's the face he make's whenever he's super impressed with my sorting skills.  haha.

Hope you are having a nice September!

sweet home :: a family room

Green!
Believe me, I was just as surprised as you are.  When we were neck-deep in the house hunting process, I came across a listing that had pictures of the living area painted a nice avacado green.  I pursed my lips, furrowed my brown, tilted my head, and then decided that I liked it.  Really really liked it.  So after a little bit of Evan-convincing, we set out to find the perfect green.  I had a hard time trying to capture it's true essence in photos, so just picture a very delicious bowl of guacamole (there's no chunks of tomato or bits of cilantro in it, mind you), and that's pretty much what it looks like in real life.  Finger-lickin' good.

And because Evan had had it up to here (hand raised to eye-brows) with our last 'rug' (okay okay, he did have a point, most rugs aren't made of recycled plastic bottles), when we were moving things in, he kept on walking with the rolled up 'rug' right past the family room and put it out on the patio.  

So.  New rug time.  I really did some extensive research and finally settled on a nice neutral one (that wouldn't compete with those crazy walls) that feels like a real rug.  Oh man, it's pretty nice to have a soft, squishy rug!  Evan was super right.  Gesso likes it too (and we think he's mature enough to not chew it up this time around.  ahem.)

When we were painting the walls we had a few "ooooohhhh man, what are we doing?!"  moments, but I am really pleased with how it turned out.  It's bold and happy.

Dear Evan,

Geez, we've really missed you this week!  Here's what we've been up to:

Lots of morning/evening walks around the neighborhood.  This is our neighbors backyard and I keep thinking that if I walk by enough times, they'll invite me to pick all those ripe berries off the bushes.

I got one of those GIANT calzones from Sweet Basil that we've been wondering about.  Cheese on the inside and on top??  Diagnosis: delicious.  This was what I ate after having to fast all dang day (okay, it was really only half a day, but still!) for my kidney ultrasound--it's really the only thing that kept me going.  I mean, I still got super grouchy and irrational (hello!  it's me!), but because I knew there was a greasy calzone waiting for me on the other side it made it just a little bit easier.

 

 And I painted the ceiling in the stoffice/offio (it's our shared studio/office, and we really can't agree on the best name for it...), and good news!  My neck didn't snap off!

aaaaaaaannnd then I painted it blue.  Like really blue. (ladies: I've learned the best time of day to discuss paint colors is early in the morning when your husband is still mostly asleep.  That's right, Evan agreed to let me go BOTTOM OF THE PAINT SWATCH!).  It looks spectacular.

Oh!  And I got another puppy!

Joking!
This is Gesso's new girlfriend named Pepper.  She likes to come over and make out with Gesso in the bushes.  It's pretty gross.

Okay, that about covers it!  See you really soon!

xo,
Holly and Gesso

sweet home :: a dining room

I don't know why it's taken so long for us to get this house feeling like a home, I mean, yes I do.  It's because we painted every dang wall and then had to order/buy all sorts of finishing touches.  Which is something we'd never done before.  So that's why.  But still!  It feels like it's taken a while.  Also, I think I am coming to embrace the 'slow realization' of a place--not rushing to say 'okay! it's done!' as soon as I possibly can.  Man, that makes me sound patient! (oh, I'm not, in case you were fooled).

So before.  I didn't snap a ton of before photos of the house, mostly because it all kind of looked the same.  Very beige-ish.

We painted the walls and ceiling (oh someone please comment on how great the ceiling looks!  It was such a PAIN IN THE NECK to paint!).  And I'm afraid we need to find a rug for under the table because that's where all of Gesso's fur goes to party.  It comes from all over the house to stick to the chair bottoms and dance around under there.  It's super disgusting (do you think he would look creepy if we shaved him???).  Also I read somewhere about how it's good to add rugs under tables to add 'texture' to the room or blah blah blah blah something like that.

I really was looking forward to finally having a place to hang all of the food paintings!  (I like food.)  We decided that they needed to have frames to live in so I drove to the big city last week (all by myself!), and picked some up at the Hobby Lobby for pretty dang cheap.

So there's that.  A room for eating. 

 P.s. this is the room where I shot Evan's finger with a nail gun. I promise it was an accident and he's doing just fine (physically and emotionally). Also, I've decided to go hard-core Amish, no more power tools for me, thanyouverymuch.

a birthday

We started the day off right with orange-dipped french toast (always a good idea).

We had to make a quick stop at the farmer's market to pick up more white peaches.  They are unbelievably fantastic.

And then we went outside!  It was just like I'd remembered!

A few months ago I found a list I'd made last year, right before my birthday.  It was 25 things about me.  I had plans to post it on the blog but then backed out because it seemed a little self-absorbed, ya know?  But after I found the list this time around I reminded myself that that's kind of the point of blogs. They are remarkably self-indulgent.  So I'd thought I'd post it a year late:

25 things about 25 year old Holly

1.  I can only sew barefoot.   It is sometimes quite cold.

2.  I lurve the color blue.  In any shade.  Well, navy isn't my favorite.

3.  I have been married to my best friend for 5 years.  It really is wonderful.

4.  I haven't eaten any type of pork since 3rd grade when I figured out that the main ingredient was pig, which was my favorite animal at the time.  I can be pretty stubborn.

5.  I hate crossing streams/creeks/rivers on logs or slippery rocks.  In fact, I throw big, messy tantrums about it.  It is the absolute worst.

6.  As it turns out, I don't really like having a job.  It gets in the way of stuff I want to do.

7.  I graduated with a degree in Art from Utah State University.  Which makes me an official artist.  I often wonder why I didn't choose a more practical vocation like, well, nursing or something.  *shrug*

8.  My favorite food is zucchini. I  could eat it all day. 

9.  My favorite snack is smaller portions of zucchini.

10.  Okay, but maybe it's actually chocolate. 

11.  I can't wait to be a mother.  I think it's going to be rad.

12.  My favorite movie is Amelie, with a close second being The Sound of Music.  I have watched it more times than I care to discuss.

13.  I love folding laundry. 

14.  I went through a phase when I was a teenager where I wore nothing but boys cargo pants and big t-shirts.  It was interesting.

15.  I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  It's a big part of who I am.

16.  I like to travel but I also like being home.

17.  My mom is a librarian and I blame her for my book-collecting problem (p.s. thanks mom!)

18.  I laugh at all my own jokes.  Usually way too loud and for way too long.

19.  I love baking.  And I think cooking is a chore.

20.  I have many freckles.  And for most of my life thought they were the worst.  Now that I am super mature, I have grown to love them!  They make me feel spunky.  And as a bonus, they hide zits very well.

21.  I think numbers are dumb.  Evan does the math at our house.

22.  I love swimming and was even on the swim team in high school, but have a fear of swimming in natural bodies of water where you can't see the bottom.  Eek!!  What's down there?!? (answer: sharks)

23.  I have a big brother, a little brother, and a baby sister. 

24.  I was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico and when I moved to Utah in 3rd grade I told everyone that I had just moved from Mexico.  I guess this is where I should mention that I'm a pretty good liar.  Sometimes not on purpose.

25.  I love me some butter.  On everything.

and 26.  I write so many lists you'd think it was my job.

oh boy!

It's a boy!  Which is what I was not-so-secretly hoping for anyway :)

Our new neighbor (also named Holly) dropped off these tiny nike's last night, and shoot, even though we're not basketball people, we (okay, me) are definitely tiny shoe people.  SO CUTE!  We'll see if Gesso can keep his greedy paws off of them...

(not likely)

It's my birthday this weekend and my one big request was to do something fun.  I feel like summer kind of never happened for us this year--we've spent almost every night and weekend painting, hanging curtain rods, organizing the garage, and debating painting placements.   Which is fun in it's own way I guess.  But we're going to leave our projects behind and *gasp* go outside.  I can hardly wait.  

Happy weekend to you!  (go outside, okay?)

blackberry harvest

If I had to play favorites, blackberries are my least favorite berry.  I dunno.  They seem extra seed-y to me and if you have an overactive imagination, they look just like a pile of picnic ants (ew!).

Our street is just BURSTING with blackberries right now and so I decided it was time to get over my prejudices.  We spent last Sunday evening walking up and down the road harvesting blackberries.  And then I made a scrumptious blackberry cobbler.

 

 

 

Which turned out to taste just like August.  Oh yum.

And we haven't even made a dent in our berry stash, so I've been on the hunt for more recipes... any suggestions?

Blackberry Cobbler

from the Pioneer Woman

1 stick butter

1 1/4 c. sugar

1 c. self-rising four (I just used regular flour and it was still delicious!)

1 c. milk

2 c. blackberries (frozen or fresh)

Melt butter in the microwave.  Pour 1 cup of sugar and flour into a mixing bowl, whisking in milk.  Mix well.  Then, pour in melted butter and whisk it all together.  Butter a baking dish.

Now rinse and pat dry the blackberries.  Pour the batter into a buttered baking dish.  Sprinkle blackberries over the top of the batter, distributing evenly.  Sprinkle 1/4 c. sugar over the top.

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until golden and bubbly. 

Top with whipped cream or vanilla ice-cream.  

(We just ended up eating it straight out of the pan with big spoons)

progress report

 

bit by bit.