Then & Now

Fatz Cafe

THEN

only 4 months old

...and...

NOW

9 months old

Carrots & Laundry

A Gigantic Post on Sewing

One of my friends said that she wished I posted more on my sewing projects.  So at the beginning of March, I planned to post on everything I made in February, but now here it is almost April, so I'll just have to cram everything into one post.  I didn't remember to take photos of all of my projects, so a few are missing, but here are the majority. 

McCord's friends, Wylie and Charlie celebrated their 3rd birthday and Wylie got a "Wylie Doll" while Charlie got a superhero cape.  I didn't photograph Charlie's gift, but you can see a similar one here.


  My mother-in-law (aka: M-I-L) got these kitchen towels for her birthday...

...and my sister-in-law, Meredith, got 2 towels for her birthday as well...

...to match her insulated casserole carrier.

This is the casserole carrier I made for my M-I-L.  I found a great tutorial for this pattern here. 

And check out the cool tags my sister made me!

McCord went through a major teething phase in February, so I made this elephant for him to chew.  I found the pattern here.

And another teething toy for Valentine's.

And my sweet friend Jessica welcomed her second child, Eliza a couple of months ago, so I made her this onesie and the teething elephant.
 

Bo and Mc got matching monogrammed sweatshirts for Valentine's!

I made my niece, Calla, this dress - complete with a little mouse that she can carry around with her in the pocket.

My friend Catherine liked the pillows I made for my sister-in-law so much she requested that I make some as a special gift for her M-I-L.  I don't think she's given them to her yet, so if you happen to know her M-I-L, don't say a word! 

I love how the ponytail came out in the silhouette.

A new paci clip for Mc.

And a personalized onesie for my brand new nephew, Will!

This is not really a sewing project, but thought I'd include anyway... Bo has always loved the John Belushi Animal House sweatshirt, and asked that I make him one.  This project was super easy - I just purchased iron-on letters from Walmart and applied to a navy sweatshirt.  I think he likes it.  Next fall, I have to make one for Mc.  How funny would that be?!!! 

Here's a onesie I made for Mc.

And a similar onesie for the smallest member of the Bailey Bunch and Mc's newest buddy, Ben.

The color in this photo came out kind of crazy, but here's a shirt for Cousin Bayer to wear for his birthday.

 ...and since I'm pretty sure, my 5 year old nephew, Bayer doesn't read my blog, here's a quick peek at the tee pee he's getting for his birthday on Sunday. I so wanted to get a picture of my own little chief having a pow wow inside it, but he was fast asleep by the time I wrapped this project up tonight. 

Doesn't every child deserve a special place to hide, conduct "top secret" business, and cuddle up and read, color, and pretend?  Well, I hope Bayer enjoys his new fort.

Over the past couple of months, this little guy has become quite familiar with all of the sewing shops in our area.  Here he is helping me pick out some fabric.

And I am so excited about the next project I have lined up. 

Here's a sneak peek of the fabric...

I won't say yet what it is in case this project totally flops.  The pattern came from a vintage sewing book my sister gave me for Christmas, and it required it to be enlarged over 2,000%!!!  Needless to say, no one locally could copy it for me that large, so I had borrow this ancient old thing from our church:

Not sure if anyone has used it the past few decades or not... but needless-to-say, my assistant came along for the whole ride.  Here he is entertaining himself on the floor of our old Sunday School classroom while I traced the sewing pattern on the wall.  More on that project to follow....

Kiss Me You Fool!

Happy St. Patty's day from my little Irish leprechauns!

The leprechaun on the right stopped by the bank today to deliver a green tie to Daddy!  Mc says he's wearing his greeen, but you can pinch his sweet cheeks any day!

A Weekend Away

Last weekend Bo, McCord, and I loaded up the car for a long weekend in Litchfield at Papa and GeeGee's condo.  It was wonderful to get away!  I wish I had taken a picture of the car all packed up before we left home - it's amazing how much stuff you need to travel with a baby.  Rocky used to have the entire back seat to himself, then along came baby, and now he's relegated to the way back of the SUV - in a tiny corner not already occupied by the pack n' play, stroller, extra diapers, breast pump, toys, etc.... but needless to say, he was just happy to be included.  Here's a quick snapshot of our weekend.

Rocky says, "it doesn't get much better than this!"

We took some long walks and managed to get a few shots in front of the legendary Litchfield tree







This little guy cracked us up all weekend long!



Our failed attempt at taking our family portrait on the beach



Saturday night we had dinner at this great restaurant recommended by a friend



The restaurant had live music, and the lead singer sang "Unforgettable" to Mc - he was absolutely smitten with her!

Every morning the whole family piled in the bed together and watched an amazing sunrise right outside the window.  What generous in-laws I have to be willing to share their condo with us so we could get away! As I watched the sun rise, I thought to myself, who am I and whose life am I living to find myself here?  Thank you so much Papa and GeeGee for sharing your condo with us.  One day, when McCord is all grown up, I hope Bo & I will be able to demonstrate a similar expression of abundant generosity with McCord and his family. 

We had an amazing weekend and made some unforgettable family memories.   Thank you!





Waiting on Daddy

Recovering a Lamp and Master BR Update

Over the weekend, we had a great family reunion in Hodges at my grandmother's old farmhouse - lots of food, fellowship, and fishing.  My mom cleaned out a few items and laid them out for dibs, and I inherated this great lamp - but as you can see, it needed some TLC.  It looks like it has milk glass on the trunk, but unfortunately it was accompanied by a brassy-like base that was cracked. 

I sprayed the base with spray paint - I read somewhere that they make an "oil rubbed bronze" spray paint, but I couldn't find it at Wal-Mart.  Instead I used a black spray for metal - which adhered well, but I'm still on the hunt for oil rubbed bronze.  If anyone knows where to find it, let me know!

Next I recovered the old shade following this great tutorial from Janell at Isabella and Max Rooms.   Everything that Janell does is superb and her tutorials are really easy to follow.  Here's the finished lamp...

This inspired me to freshen up our Master Bedroom.  Here's the before:

So I changed out the bedding and used the leftover fabric to make a panel for the window and a pillow for the bed.  Making this panel was a leap of faith, because I just started sewing and hoped that it would look okay in the end. 

With about 2 yards of fabric, all I did was hem all four ends, adding a space up top for the rod, and then I took large safety pins to pinch up the sides.  I didn't want to make the shade a custom fit for this window because, in the event that our house sells, (!)  I know I'll want to reuse this fabric in another location.  This is a temporary fix for sprucing up our bedroom!



And here's the after - complete with Rocky snoozing in the sunbeam:

Did I mention that my son is now taking 2 naps a day?!!!

McCord is 8 Months Old...

...and life has never been so amazing!

Here are a few photos I took last week as McCord and I cut some forsythia to bring inside.  If I had to sum up this past month in one word it would be "awe," for McCord has been in awe of every single detail - surrounding him.  And Bo and I've been in awe of him! 

How wonderful it is to be 8 months old!  McCord has discovered that he can move his jaw up and down like he's talking without making any noise.  Sometimes we'll catch him silently "jabbing" and then he looks at us as if to say, "Did you see that?!!!!  I can move my mouth!" His favorite sound, however, is still the pterodactyl squeal (although he has started babbling mama mama mama, lately... all a coinsidence, of course, but saying Mama, none-the-less).

Here are some of Mc's favorite things right now...

• Favorite pastime: sitting on a quilt and playing with his toys (and/or chewing on his books - not looking at pictures or turning pages, mind you, but this grandson of a children's librarian enjoys chewing on his books!).  Right now, he loves to pull toys out of containers like bags, his toy box - he even likes to pull his Butt Paste out of the diaper changing caddy.  Ah, what a thrill!
• Food: Dried apricots have been a hit lately for this teething little guy.  He's not too interested in food in general yet, so we are working on making food a positive experience with lots of cheering and praise for eating oatmeal.  Life is really fun in the Redmond household right now.  

• Music: This little fellow loves to listen to music. And he especially loves to watch you enjoy music. If a good Motown song comes on the Pandora station, and Bo or I start dancing, he starts rocking back and forth and nodding his head too. And if you start dancing toward him, singing lyrics and incorporating him into your dance routine - watch out! - a huge smile abounds usually followed by more head nodding. He's been known to do the same enthusiastic upper-body rock/head nod at Kindermusik.

 
 

• Pets: Rocky, Hank, and Jackson are Mc's buddies! Every time he sees one of them, he lets out a little excited squeal as if he's thinking, "Oh, it's you again! Thank goodness you're here! I've been thinking about running my hands through your fur all day long!"

...and finally, here are my two favorite boys next to McCord's Maple.  You can't tell it from this photo, but McCord's Maple has grown about a foot and a half since we planted it last July.  What a joy it is to see it thriving and growing just like our little boy!

We look forward to seeing what the next month brings.  I think some crawling is in our future!