shark attack

i finished this blanket last night for a customer who's only request was that the baby boy blanket be "manly". i hope this fits the bill. :) i added an "f" for the couples last name and crisscrossed each square in black thread. all the fabrics are soft flannel except for the black and white print which is cotton. there are 25 squares and it measures approx. 35 x35.





i never new i could be so in love with sharks.

under the sea

my good friend Chelsea has three darling girls. the oldest are twins who are turning 6 August 1st. they love dolls and when it comes to the water, well, they think they are mermaids. how cute is that? she showed me a picture of a mermaid and asked if i thought i could create some mermaids for her two mermaids. how could i pass that up? here, they are, the finished product.

i love them, do you?each doll has a hand embroidered face and a pink felt heart sewn on her chest. the mermaids are sewn in such a way that they can bend at the waist, so they can easily sit in a chair for under-the-sea parties, on beds to be read too, and "swim". :) one thing Chelsea liked most about the picture was that the mermaid had on a modest top instead of the usual shell bra. these tops really finish these girls off perfectly. i hand sewed in the yarn hair to match the girls' hair color. these dolls can be customized as far as eye color, hair color, and top blouse fabric goes.

don't you love the green sequin fin?
i'll be putting some up in my shop to sell soon. these girlies will sell for $35 (includes shipping) because of the time and materials it takes to do them. Pottery Barn Kids sells something not nearly as cool (well I think) for $39, sheesh, come on Pottery Barn. i'll let you know when they're there.

wherever we put Kylene in the apartment and no matter how many toys we give her to play with, when it's time for Connor's bath she'll crawl her way into the bathroom and we'll find her standing next to the bathtub watching Connor. for some reason Kylene LOVES to watch Connor in the bath. She finds something about it thrilling and terrifying. She'll squeal and "talk" to him with concern but she just can't pull herself away from it all. Connor loves all the attention and puts on a good act drinking water and spitting it back out and making a bubble beard. Kylene finds the latter the most disturbing and Connor quickly washes his face off to assure Kylene it's just him, just in time to repeat the process over again.

won't be long until she's in there with him...

remember these? well those went into making up the mobile below. my client just e-mailed me a picture of the finished product in her baby's nursery and i love it! i love how she painted the branches white and added felt leaves. she's being induced today--good luck Melissa!

i finished these owls and the pennant banner for my client who's having her first girl!

Kylene is so in love with them, i've had to hide them in my room. i think the black and white and color contrasts are really eye catching and interesting to babies.

i love these creations and hope this is just what my new-mom-to-be is hoping for.

happy 4th

we had such a great fourth! we went to the Carrboro parade and festival in the morning. we lucked out and got a parking spot and then ended up at the front of the parade and got to see the fire truck and police car sound its horns and sirens and kick off the event. the parade consisted of a bunch of families walking and riding their decorated bikes, wagons, scooter, etc as we all cheered and waved. the whole parade lasted about 10 min and i looked at Byron and said, "I don't know about you, but this is my kind of parade!" connor loved seeing all the kids riding their bikes and we told him we could decorate his bike next year and we'd walk in the parade. what a thrill that will be. :)connor was looking super cool in his shades and loved running through the bouncy house obstacle course, jumping in a bouncy house castle, riding bikes, pushing lawn mowers, painting, and playing in the sand box.


kylene spent a happy hour playing at the toddler time area. it was nice and shaded and she enjoyed seeing all the other babies and discovering all the different toys on the play mat.
we entered her in the baby crawl contest and laughed along with all the other parents trying to get their toddlers to crawl to their destination. kylene stayed on all fours and watched what everyone else was doing. i tried at one point to throw my sunglasses ahead of her to get her crawling and another little girl maneuvered towards them. it was a hoot.

we finished off our day at our ward picnic where connor ran hard for 2 hours playing with his friends, taking a short break to pack in some dinner and run off again. the weather was gorgeous and byron and i enjoyed socializing and kylene enjoyed being loved on by everyone around her.

i think the best decision we made was to end the day while we were all happy and go home before seeing fireworks. the kids zonked out immediately and byron and i enjoyed some quiet time together listening to the fireworks outside. in my book, that spells a near perfect day.

Dear Byron,

Today you started your Clinical Fellowship Year as a Speech Pathologist at UNC Hospital working with Head and Neck Cancer Patients.

For the past month and a half we've been really selfish and had you all to ourselves, but we decided we'd play nice and share youv with some other people now.

I'm not saying we're happy about it, but we're sharing none-the-less.

We're very, very proud of you and know you'll be fantastic.

I for one, am feeling the physical and emotional tuggings of missing my helper and friend. Who am I supposed to talk to all day now, and eat lunch with, and hold hands while walking around the mall with, and fix Connor lunch and put him down for a nap while I take care of Kylene, and take the kids outside so I can make dinner, and...oh well, I guess we need to let you go so we can do things like, you know, eat.

It sure was fun while it lasted and we can't wait for you to come home tonight.

Miss you!

love,

Kristi, Connor, and Kylene