greenclogs

lucky us

Radio silence again - it's typical with a newborn, right? I think the primary cause for my absence here is that we've had visitors nearly nonstop for the last few weeks, which has been great, but keeps me from a) holing up in the craft room during naps and b) taking time away to blog. 

Most of our guests have been grandparents, but a very special friend snuck in between two sets of them. 

 

Jade came for the weekend and we had such a wonderful time. She and I met just like the old friends we are (through the power of the Intertubes) even though this was the first time we've been in the same place at the same time. She's just as funny and warm and wonderful in person as she is on your computer screen. Annika cried when she left and has been begging us to move to Austin ever since. She seems to think that she can make Jade's kids into her posse, which is a scary thought indeed. Jade also brought with her a HUGE suitcase full of outgrown baby clothes, so between that and a wonderful (soon to be blogged) box from Chris, little Kit has enough clothes to wear something new every day for at least the next 2 months. I'm so grateful for their generosity. 

We largely just hung out and chatted and took turns snuggling the baby, but on Sunday, we drove her up to see the pretty part of Arizona. 

Slide Rock State Park in Sedona AZ 

We took a field trip to Sedona, where she waded in (freezing) Oak Creek with Annika, ate lunch on patio overlooking the creek, admired the red rocks and spires, and spent some time at the Chapel of the Holy Cross. 

We sent her home with a suitcase full of outgrown clothes for Makena and a big bag of lemons and a lot of love. I hope she enjoyed us as much as we enjoyed her. 

Oh, and the gratuitous baby Kit photo. She's 4 weeks old already!

<

a gift for baby Chloe

I've been waiting to share this one for a while. My friend Jade had her third child, little Chloe, at the end of September. Courtney and I got several of our blog friends together to send her a baby shower in a box. After several delays due to recovery or illnesses, she opened the box yesterday, so I now I can share what I made. 

I've shared the hat before, since I made a matching one for our upcoming little one. the sweater is the Debbie Bliss Ribbed Baby Sweater, which is a really fun little knit. It's knit all in one piece, and then stitches are picked up around the fronts and collar for the ribbing. I used Blue Sky Alpaca Dyed Cotton yarn. It was from the stash, and had been wound and partially knit in an abandoned project, so I don't know precise yardage. I'd guess that I used slightly less than 2 skeins. Hopefully it'll get some good wear in the cool Austin fall and winter. 

Welcome to the world little Chloe! We're so glad you're here. 

are so happy

We were very lucky people on Thursday. The kids and I took a little road trip to see Kyrie and her sweet girls. Nothing makes me happier than meeting my blog friends in person, and really, this visit couldn't have been any better. 

We dropped our shoes at the front door and made ourselves at home. Kyrie greeted us with some cookie baking fun for Gunnar while Annika ran off with the girls to play fairies and farm and I'm not sure what else. But wait. First, there was some baby holding. 

Annika make a beeline straight for baby Bee and was hard pressed to hand her over to someone else who wanted to hold her (ahem. me.). I snuggled the Bee to sleep while they played. Bliss, I tell you. 

Cookie eating and tower building commenced. 

We blew through a lot of cookies in a pretty short time. They were delicious. Oh, and Gunnar and I marveled the entire time at how very much that chocolate covered Birdie looks and just is like Annika. Really really alike. I'll dig out the photos to prove it. 

Books were read and laughed over. These two were inseparable - one having a big sister for a day and the other being the big sister for a change. So fun. 

Bunny declared that it was park time in her little tiny voice (I had almost forgotten how cute it is to hear huge vocabularies coming from those voices that sound like someone just sucked in a bunch of helium. wow.) and we trooped off for some swing time. 

Then back to the house for strawberry picking and making "strawberry stew".

We left, full to the brim with happy, and hopefully not before wearing out our welcome. I would show you a photo of the lovely Kyrie, but she nixed that idea. I'll just say that if I could move in next door and hang out like that, I would be one happy camper indeed. She is gracious and funny and full of serenity with her three little ones buzzing around her (oh, and I'm going home to completely redo my house because I love hers so much). We are so happy to have spent the day with her. Thank you, Kyrie. I hope we do it again soon. 

in real life

Last night was one of the highlights of my summer. Tracy and her lovely husband came to visit us and ignore all of the boxes still gracing our living room. They very patiently listened to all of the Very Important Things that the children had to share. We chatted and we laughed and we ate artichokes with curried mayonnaise and lemon garlic butter. We celebrated Jeff's completion of the Arizona Bar Exam with grilled shrimp and beer and yummy Brazilian rum drinks.

These limes sacrificed themselves to our dinner and drinks. Tracy and I both ran for our cameras as Jeff started stacking them up. Up until then we were just too darned busy talking to bring them out. Sad and pathetic for a couple of bloggers.

Writing a blog is a remarkable thing. Through the words and the photos that I share here, as well as through the words of all of you, I have found kindred spirits all over the world. Women that I wish I could meet in person, share a cup of coffee or a glass of wine (Lori - I'll make sure you have a Mt. Dew), trade stories, show what I'm working on, gather ideas. We do all of that here on our blogs, but rarely does it translate into that "real life" connection. Meeting Tracy yesterday and seeing her be the same wonderful, talented and thoughtful person that she is on her blog was an affirmation of why I sit down here and write the words and share the images. There's a community here that is invaluable to me - a circle of friends that supports and laughs and cries with me. I just wish all of you could pull up a chair and share an afternoon. I'll even make sure the boxes are all unpacked.

valentine exchange update

Just a quick update - there will be a real post later. All of the notification emails for the valentine exchange have been sent. If you did not get yours, please let me know so I can send abject apologies. If anyone else wants to join in, I can probably still arrange it for the next few days. If you do not hear from your partner in the next couple of days, please let me know so I can nudge a little. Everyone have fun!

valentine exchange

One of my favorite parts of writing a blog is hearing from other people and exchanging ideas based on what I wrote in a post. After seeing Annika's valentines that were created on Hooky Friday, Molly emailed me with a great idea. She asked what I thought of organizing a handmade valentine exchange among our kids and opening it up to whomever else wants to participate. I thought this was a fantastic idea, so I'm throwing it out to the rest of you.

Here's how I see it working:

• Please leave me a comment if you're interested and tell me how many kids will be participating and their ages. You may sign up until January 20.
• I'll compile the list and match up families based on the ages of the children. If you're a prolific procreator, you may be matched up with more than one family to get the right age matches.
• I'll email you the contact email and kid info for your exchange partner(s) by January 25.
• Please contact your partner by January 28 and exchange addresses.
• Handcraft a valentine (yes, gocco counts, so long as it's designed by the child) and mail it off to your partner by February 10 to allow adequate mail time. Don't forget to take a photo of the beautiful creations!
• Post your photo to the not-yet-created Flickr group so we can all see the inspiration and creativity of our children.
• If you have a blog, post the received valentine on your blog.

That's it! I don't see this being a big gifty exchange - getting it together on the Valentine front is enough work in my book - but be as creative as you'd like to be. If you and your exchange partner want to take it further, then go ahead and do so as long as you both agree. Just make it about fun and connections for kids. If I get organized enough, I may even make a (gasp!) badge for your blogs. And Molly, I'm all over it even if we get no takers - I can't wait to see what you'll do.

Valentine production line 2007

Let the Valentine production of 2008 commence.

generosity

Two very special packages arrived here in the last minute flurry of Christmas Eve deliveries. I was so tickled to find these surprise gifts on my doorstep.

First, from Beki:

She generously shared some of her button stash with me and I am soooo excited to get in there and use them. She also included a gorgeous button brooch that I adore. Annika immediately hung it on the tree, since it was a beautiful ornament. Thanks so much Beki for your generosity!

And from Jade:

When she posted this beautiful fabric wreath on her blog, I had no idea that it was for me! I was so overwhelmed when I opened the box. With everything Jade has going on right now, I can't believe she took the time to make this. Thank you!

I never cease being amazed by the generosity of fellow bloggers and am inspired to get beyond my good intentions and get my behind to the post office and mail some overdue packages.

We're supposed to go to the zoo today. You can laugh at me now - it's supposed to be 53 degrees and I think that's too cold, so I'm trying to talk the kids out of going. I'm sure all of you with snow on the ground think that I'm a crazy person, but really. 53 is cold here. Wish me luck in talking them into waiting until Monday when it's supposed to be nearly 70 instead. Of course, it would be a good excuse to pull out the handknits... but it's cold. Decisions, decisions!

production begins

The production line for this week has begun. The girls cut out bag pieces yesterday. Today I double-checked their work (note to self - give another cutting lesson and buy a new rotary blade), separated the pieces into straps, pockets, interiors and exteriors. Pieces were ironed, straps were sewn and flipped, exteriors were sewn, pockets were sewn onto interiors and interiors were sewn. All except the Christmas bag in front which requires a different thread color. Tomorrow, the pieces will be put together, the Christmas bag sewn, and the next batch begun. I know we all feel better knowing that this project isn't being neglected.

In other happy news, we received a lovely package in the mail from Tracy that contained two photos. This one she traded for one of Gunnar's photos that she liked and this one was the prize for me (the lucky winner!) in a blog contest. I can't wait to put them both up on the walls. Thanks so much Tracy! I will treasure the infamous washboard guy and G is finding just the right spot in his room for his photo.

Preschool proof sheets were generated this morning and will be delivered tomorrow, crew pictures are ready for printing, and Gunnar may even go back to school for the first time in over a week. That flu bug is a real humdinger, but I think he's finally conquering it. There's just nothing worse than lingering illness for a sick kid. He has appreciated all of your well wishes. Thanks so much for all the love!

winners!

Thanks again for all of the 100th post love! I'm really excited about getting to know some of you a little better and "meeting" some new people.

Drumroll please....

Gunnar's winner

Michelle

Annika's winner:

Erin

Congratulations! I'll be emailing you about your gift of choice, whether it be supplies or a finished gift.

Speaking of supplies, while I am working away at lots of stockinette stitch in a lovely, but very neutral color, I am dreaming of color and lace.

Sarah gave me this beautiful hank of yarn for my birthday a while back, and it has been calling my name. Probably because it screams fall. It's 970 yards, which is enough for a pretty large project. Ideas? I'd like a fairly simple lace project that won't be overwhelmed by the colors of the yarn and won't require me being a total slave to a chart. Time to go looking, when I've had enough of knit-knit-knit.

Happy 100 posts!

Desert blooms by Gunnar, taken October 2007

I can't believe it's already happened, but this is my 100th post on this blog. If my head were less foggy from having a head cold, I'm sure I would be far more eloquent tonight, but since I'm not, I'll leave it at this. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading, for commenting and for adding so much to my life through your own blogs, email conversations, and just by being there. The connections I've made through this blog mean the world to me. So thank you.

Please do leave a comment by Friday, whether you're a regular poster, a lurker, or a lurking family member, and tell me something about yourself that I don't already know. Annika and Gunnar will do the traditional drawing of the name and the lucky winner will be sent a lovely prize that is representative of what we do here at Still Life. Could be a pretty photo, might be craft supplies, maybe a finished knitting or sewing project, depending on who the lucky winner is and what your heart desires.

Thank you again for everything you give to me by being here.

Sarah