forward movement

progress is being made across the board. it feels good to be working on the house again and actually getting things done. i started in Miss. A's room this week and have finished one wall plus a wall in the closet. we are getting there and she may be in her room by Christmas, i hope before then... i have mentioned before about trying to pace myself with this whole house thing and it is hard. the balance is between the outside and inside. i figure if i have one major project going in each area i can switch between them while the paint is drying or Miss. A is awak. so along with her room i have been working on digging out the ivy from the planter at the front of our house.



yesterday afternoon after Miss. A woke up early from her nap i took her outside and we worked side-by-side digging. her with her bucket and shovel and i with the planter. it is now clear of all ivy infested dirt and ready to be washed out and patched. the brick on the facade of the planter is cracked and being pushed out so we have to redo the brick work. once that is done i will be able to actually plant all of my herbs there and not just have them sit in pots. the wonderful thing about the planter is that it is right under the kitchen window and next to the front door for easy access during cooking. just last night we were making a panini with basil, tomato and mozzarella and i needed fresh basel. it was so nice to be able to go out the front door and pick what was needed.


on the crafting front things have been a bit slow since there is little access to the sewing machine right now. but i have been working on some embroidery and knitting. i have started a birthday gift for Daniel's sister whose birthday was on Sunday. it is just that i have run out of inspiration for now.


i hope to get back to it this weekend.


the knitting on the other hand was quite gratifying this week. every Tuesday evening i go and knit with some friends. this is somethings that we have been doing for almost three years now. i had been wanting to make a fall hat for Miss. A and i finally bought all the items needed. including some needles i know i have somewhere around the house but can't track down.



it was so satisfying to see the had fly off the needles. i was able to finish it in one evening and then started a scarf to match since there was so much yarn left.

i know that there are a few of you that are waiting for me to get around to sending you some homemade items and they are in the line-up of things to do. but for this weekend we are going to focus on painting and trying to get my blog spiffed up a bit. for the longest time i have wanted to make a banner and personalize the site some. i hope that time has come but do not hold me to it.

home again

we are home once more and i am trying to get focused. it is so hard to be in such a constant state of transition. as i mentioned before we are all sleeping in the den. this makes for a fun experience for all. trying to get Miss. A down for naps or bed is quite hard and once she is down i have very few places to go and relax or do things. right now we are taking things slowly and trying to finish a room before moving back into it. the first room on the list is of course Miss. A's so that she can get settled again. yesterday i painted a swatch of wood to see if the color of green we picked out for her room even looks good. we are going with the green but it is only going to be for an accent wall and we need to pick out a contrast color. from there the trim needs to be painted and then the corner rounds stained, cut and installed. so as you can see this whole moving in process is going to take some time if that needs to be done in every room.

i have to remember that it will all pay off in the end but for the time being it is hard to resist the urge to be settled. i guess i should take advantage of the time and go wash the walls in her room since it is nap time and i always need to take advantage of that.

moving out

well one would think that we were getting settled into the new place by now after two months but that is not the case. we have been planing on getting our floors done since day one but that caused us to live in limbo. having talked with the company we were planing on going with we knew that they were scheduling work starting in November. the question then became one of how much we should unpack since we would have to move everything out again. we started by setting up Miss. A's room with the basics like her crib, fish tank, dresser and toys so that she would feel a bit more settled. Daniel and i knew that we could live with less but as we started thinking about how far out Nov. was we decided to set up thing like our bed so as to not be sleeping on the floor. well all of our plans changed recently. i called to set up a date for the work to be done and they said there had been a cancelation and we could be fit in on the 26th of this month. we were so excited thinking about all the things that we could move on with once the floors were done. then this past thursday they called again and asked if we would like to switch dates with another person and have them done starting on the 20th. again we accepted and then the reality hit. we would have to not only move all of our belongings out of the living room and bedrooms but we ourselves would have to move. a trip sounded wonderful but Daniel is in the middle of a big deadline for work so that was out of the question. since he works from home and he would have no access to his office we also had to look into a place that had wireless so he could at least work on the laptop.

all this to say we are moving out. we are packing the bags and taking the kid to the in-laws. it will be quite fun trying to keep up with her in a non baby-proofed house for five days. what i do know is that Miss. A and i are going to be frequenting bothhere and here quite a lot this week. until then we are going to be keeping ourselves busy ripping up corner-rounds and demolishing the tile around the fire place.




i know that we will soon be moving back in and will be able pick up some momentum on the whole house project. for now as i sit in the den on the couch with my feet resting on my bed i feel like we have regressed back to square one. i just have to think of this as progress in a different form.

we are enjoying a bit of fall in our living room among the rubble of the fire place right now. today as i was out for a walk with Miss. a i was stopped by an older neighbor who was doing yard work. it was wonderful to get to know another person in our new area. he gave me quite a few gourds and some eucalyptus which is gracing our mantel while below everything is being ripped apart.

keeping us busy...

well there is never a dull moment in this family i will say that much. Miss. A was in fine form this weekend. on saturday we had a wedding to go to and Miss. A was off to an overnight trip to the grandparents house. this made for quite an exciting saturday morning as we tried to fit everything that needed to be done into a few short hours.

Daniel was having a bit of fun playing with Miss. A while i finished up the last bit of work on part of the wedding gift. i had envisioned these napkins for some time but then guests were around and i never actually got a chance to start them. two days before they needed to be wrapped i finally put needle to fabric. i was quite pleased with the end result and i now want to embelish a few more things around the house or for Christmas gifts.



well onto the wonderful entertainment of Miss. A. while i was working fervently on my project they were down the hall making skates. i stuck my head out the door of my studio and down the hall came the two of them. Miss. A with two cars rubber banded to her feet with Daniel pushing her.


we are a bit creative around here or at least he is.

later that afternoon as Daniel was shooting some photos in the basement i decided to take a shower while Miss. A entertained herself in the bathroom. about half way through this event i looked down and there she was climbing into the tub getting wet on the way in. there was not much i could do but let her play while i attempted to get Daniel's attention from the basement. it was all quite amusing watching her play in the tub PJ's, slippers and all. of course he came camera in hand ready to document the event.



we had a wonderful evening at the wedding. the rain parted and the sun came out just as the recession started. it was another amazing wedding but the final one for the year that we know of. we are on to the next adventure.

home alone

the house now feels empty after a week full of family. my sister and her son left yesterday afternoon and it was a bit quieter around here. i did not hear myself telling Miss. A no as much. while they were here she look to trying to 'share' everything with her cousin. he is not yet crawling and likes to sit and play with his toys where as Miss. A enjoys running circles around him and 'sharing' in the form of hitting him on the top of the head with the object in question. she was quite unhappy when objects were taken away from her. the faces of distress were quite amusing. we are just waiting until he is able to 'share' back and then the real fun begins.

it was wonderful to have my sister down for a few days. her and her family live up in Seattle but it seems as if every time she is down for a visit there is a big event happening or other family members are in town to visit as well. this time we were able to just relax go for walks and catch up on life. we are looking forward to them moving down here soon. the kids are going to have a great time playing together and growing up so close.

yesterday afternoon we mellowed out. i was able to catch up on some much needed emails as Miss. A drew and played with her pins by taking them in and out of the container. i was also able to start the long project of sorting through the thousands of photos we have taken since her birth. i am processing them so that i can actually put together a photo album of her life thus far. it is quite the process. i am not even yet through the day one of her life. this may take some time. while looking through the photos i was flooded with memories of the early days. it is amazing the amount of emotion that goes into childbirth.

today i am taking a break from photos and focusing on grocery shopping and sewing a wedding present. it feels good to get back into some long awaited projects.

family

though summer is officially over and kids are back in school it feels as if it is just getting started here. we have had family visiting throughout the past few weeks and we have been getting out a bit more enjoying the world outside of our new home. it is amazing how much time a new house can take even if things feel like they are not getting done.

on wednesday my mother came up and stayed for a few days. the minute i found out that she was on her way up i made a hair appointment. it was the first time in months i got a cut and it felt so good to sit down for an hour and have someone else worry about me. while here she wanted to help with Miss. A as much as she could so that i could unpack or do something but i was almost dilapidated by that freedom. i had no big projects lined up and so little got done i felt like things were getting done all out of order. last weekend we sorted through all of the magazine, newspaper and written recipe collected over the years and so i started to type them up. this is a very long term project and not top on my list but nonetheless i started with that project. i should have been organizing the bathroom or unpacking a box in Miss. A's room but no i decided to waste my time on something else. how is it that one actually stays focused on projects in a house especially with a little one waking up just as you are getting started on something?

friday afternoon we were going to head out of town a bit and go camping for the first time since Miss. A was born but we altered our plans a bit. Daniel had a full days worth of work and we were unable to leave town early.

so in modifying our plans we decided to go hiking out toward to coast which was a lot of fun. we went to the new Tillamook Forest Center and then hiked around. Daniel’s sister and her husband joined us, it was the first time we had been hiking with them and it was quite fun. there are more photos here.

there were a few wonderful gifts that came my way this week as well.

my mother brought up some great old Bernina Sewing catalogs. they have classic images and motivating designs.

i also received a package in the mail from Marianne over at Applehead and Appleseed. she sent me a few of her Runner's World magazines and along with it included a few surprises. about a month ago she started selling some great paper goods at her Appleseed shop and she sent a few of her items along. i love the image of 'Our Morning Dive' it just looks like something that Miss. A will be doing some say soon. the little bird cards are from the Tuckfield's Australian Bird Series and they are quite fun to look at. i wonder how they will be put to use.

this afternoon my sister and her son are coming into town for a few days to look at houses. her husband just got a job in portland and so they are moving a lot closer in about a month. it will be quite fun to have her living here since her son and Miss. A are only three months apart and she is expecting her second in early February. for the past twelve years we have lived in different states and so it will be quite a different thing to have them living so close. so on that note i guess i should go and try to clean a bit around here before more guests show up.

WIP [or] regression of work

last week i was quite excited about getting back into knitting. i forced myself to work quite diligently on my sweater. i woke up Saturday morning and went straight to blocking the sweater pieces that had been waiting around so patiently for the past two years or so. blocking went quickly as i listened to Music from Big Pink. this album brings back so many fond memories of my childhood playing around in my fathers studio. he is a painter and we would spend Saterday afternoons painting or drawing together. i would always try to convince him to draw me but would grow tired or need to move after such a short period of time. i am not quite sure how he had the patience for it. ::ok enough of the memories back to the regression of my sweater:: once blocked i started sewing up the armholes and then moved on to finishing the neck. sunday evening i picked up my work again and knit like crazy knowing that there were only a few inches left before it would be finished. as time went on i realized that there was a good chance that i was running out of yarn. that is always a problem it is like cutting your fabric to short, you have a hard time recovering from the mistake. in the back of my mind i am still thinking that i have an extra skein in my box of yarn but have yet to locate it. another problem with the whole thing is that they discontinued the yarn about a year ago and so there are very few places that actually even have it in stock. so now i am left with trying to figure out the next step and whenever that happens i move onto another project or four. i have now picked up a new project of socks and i am sewing some pillows for Miss. A's room. she loves to dive into them.

i will leave you with a photo from a year ago today. this is of Miss. A and Daniel when we were visiting Idaho last year. we have a family cabin on lake Ponderay that we would like to make it to each year but right now it is about every other. we went last year when Miss. A was two months old and it was quite fun.

::winner::

on friday afternoon i received a wonderful package in the mail. Alexandra from Moonstitches had a drawing giveaway for some beautiful Japanese fabric and my name was drawn among others. i am quite excited to use this forest of trees for many different projects. the first of which will be a pillow for Miss. A's room. i have been working on a few throw pillows for her since she loves diving into large piles of them. this fabric goes quite nicely with the already picked patterns.

thank you very much Alexandra for such a generous giveaway.