Fun mail and crazy weekends

So after much work and planning, this year's Sheep-to-Shawl for Estes Wool Market is officially over, and it was a blast.  I'll post more details (and pics!) about it later, but for now I'm taking a mini break from spinning.  Which for me means some sewing, yay!

Waiting for me in the mail on Saturday was this sweet little package of fat quarters from Alissa as part of the SMS giveaway.  So cute and inspiring, I can't wait to start planning a new project.  Any ideas?

I've also tried my hand at making a 90 min shirt from this awesome tutorial from Dana at MADE.  I came across her awesome blog during the Celebrate the Boy month, and I have been wanting to try one for a long time.  It was a lot of fun to sew, and I know I will be making a lot more, once I have some softer T-shirt material and tweak my pattern a bit for a better fit.  The t-shirt I used was from hubby's pile of  uncomfy shirts, which features his fav car, the 1970 Dodge Charger.  Only fitting our little boy follow in his daddy's car preferences, right?  Next up, have to find him a Porsche and a Volkswagon shirt, for his mommy's car tastes.  Or I might try and attempt a freezer paper stencil design of the ubiquitous VW Bug or maybe a Thing.

Otherwise, the weather here has been a bit crazy, but mostly nice and summery, which means not only have I been making a few more skirts for me (I love it!  So comfy and easy to wear), but I have been eating more fruit and baking some favorites, like tasty cherry clafoutis.  Again, I love the recipe from Mark Bittman, but with a little bit of almond extract added, it's wonderful (and right now I'm too lazy, but if anyone wants my adapted recipe, let me know, k?).   And I joined the local CSA with a friend, as I have missed giving it up since California.  So far, the first batch was mostly lots of lettuces, plus some parsley and cilantro and spinach, so it look like lots of salad for us for a bit.  In general, I have found this site to be a great resource for ideas with all the veggies, and again, the Bittman cookbooks are great too.  My mom recently got me this great book for fruits, as a library weed, and the complimentary one for veggies looks good too. 

And...baby pic!

Cupcakes!

Sadly, not the edible kind, but the awesome fabric kind to make a sweet apron!  This already makes me feel happy and productive for just hanging around or crafting, plus the pockets are nice to put my iPod in while sewing in my new skirts.  Like this one yard ruffle skirt!  Bit higher than I normally like, but it still works pretty well.

Also, I have been cooking a fair deal lately, part of the housewife/mommy package, and while it is usually pretty standard fare, for us at least, a few months back I tried the awesome Tomato with 2 Fennels soup from Molly Wizenberg's A Homemade Life.  Here is an adapted recipe, since I feel odd posting my adapted recipe, copyright and all.  Plus, I'm lazy.  Super tasty, and the goat cheese is a must!

Another thing I've been doing is making my own coarse grain beer mustard, from this awesome book.  Super easy and way cheaper than storebought.  Plus, I can use my hubby's yummy homebrewed ESB beer for it.  Haven't tried many recipes so far from here, but the cuban black bean and plantain bake is great (especially with fresh mango), and I am a total convert of buying dried beans, cooking them in big batches, then freezing for use, as opposed to buying canned.  I can control how done they are, how much salt, and again, way, way cheaper.  I mean, a pound of dried beans usually costs the same price as one can of cooked!

Other news, trying my hand at growing some basic herbs, which are going pretty well, except puppy really wants to nibble on my chives, so those are currently on the counter to avoid "overharvesting".  And poor Oz has a nasty head cold, which makes for a very cuddly, but tired baby.  And now, a baby pic, of him with his Uncle Will!

Been busy here at Casa Campbell, between Oz growing up, weird weather, trip to North Carolina to see family (and our friends Neil, Dana, Sophie & Henry), and swim class.  But overall, things have been going well.  Oz eats like a frat boy, downing bottles and eating solids like you wouldn't believe.  And he's working on mastering the art of eating cheerios very quickly, which the pup loves, since he gets anything that falls (which is still a lot).

And we have had crazy spring weather here as well.  Some awesome, gorgeous days around 85, but....currently we have 2 inches of snow on the ground and it's quite gloomy out.  I guess nice for tea anyway, but I really didn't think Oz would still be wearing the wool jacket I knit him this late in the year.

However, I also got to take a wonderful class at Fancy Tiger with a friend for A-line skirts, which was a lot of fun and produced this:

I am planning to make several more, as these would be perfect for spring/summer weather (not the snow though!), and have the fabric ready to go.  I made a second one, a bit different, out of one yard of rose-designed retro looking fabric and added a ruffle for length, even though it was a stretch to do one with just one yard.  After doing it once, it is really quite easy and quick to bust these out, taking about one long naptime, or more likely these days, 2 medium length naptimes (not me but Oz of course).

Speaking of the little guy, we had our first swim class on Saturday, and he had a lot of fun splashing around in the water and watching other babies.  I can't wait for next week, as I think he will really enjoy each class.

And also on sat night, Kyle and I went to see the Denver Roller Dolls play a double header up in Broomfield.  We saw the Mile High Club beat the Texecutioners, and the Bruising Altitude soundly beat O-Town Derby Dames from Utah.  It was a lot of fun, and we can't wait to go back again.  Also nice to have a date night, thanks to my lovely mom who babysat for us.  Luckily since he goes to bed pretty early, evenings around here aren't too bad, but it sure is nice to leave every now and then.

We like to eat!

 

Resolutions

Yeah, I know, the whole New year's resolution post.  But I prefer to think of it as new mama resolutions, things that will help maintain my sanity and balance both as myself, a wife, a pet-owner and a mama through this year and all the ones following.  They range from the simple to the more detailed, things like make time for myself in a calming way, either simply taking the time to listen to a quiet house with a cup of tea and no distractions, to spinning more in the evenings to celebrating life as a mama, much as some of the inspirational blogs I read do.  And of course make some dedicated time for sewing, knitting, and cooking.

As our Mr. Man keeps shooting through clothes in no time (in 18 mo sleepers already, holy cow!), he's been reaching the ends of a commercially purchased sleep sack in no time.  I finally put together a quick replacement in fleece with a separating zipper that is working well for now, but is none too pretty of an example of sew-manship.  That being said, it was my first time installing a zipper, and it went pretty well.  Hopefully on the next one I make, I will do a much better job and incorporate an excellent idea from finger thumb to add a front tab to avoid poking him on the chin.

Speaking of cute chins:

 

Wearing some of mama's knitwear, giving me an expression that is so his dad when I do something weird

Holiday Pics

Opening gifts with Grandma

Flag from Trinity Site, NM on first museum visit

Replica of Little Boy

So awhile back, one of the awesome blogs I visit, SlavetoSave, hosted a bunch of baby-themed giveaways, with some really cool stuff.  I entered a few of them, and I actually won something!  Been waiting to post, what with holidays and all, but I got it in the mail last week and had to take a pic. 

It's a Snuggle Me'z carseat cover in the Brody pattern, and it's really come in handy with the cold weather we've had lately.  Of course, this last week has been all about staying home and paying tribute to the many nap attempts that need to be made on behalf of proper day sleep, but hopefully I'll be able to go out again soon and show it off around the mall.