Cozy Times

This has been a relaxing holiday for the most part.  It started off crazy busy with a trip to Michigan for the Polderman Family Reunion of Tall People (Devon's family is mostly Dutch with a bit of German thrown in for good measure and I feel super short when I am around them).  Then back in time to spend most of Christmas Eve building the doll house Santa brought for the girls - seriously, I was up until 2:30am and Devon didn't make it to bed until 3:30am.  We are not very skilled elves when it comes to this kind of thing. Then after Christmas the family visited in order to celebrate Mooper's 4th birthday (the amount of TRASH we have generated from all of the unwrapping of kids' gifts is astounding.  Our recycling will be backed up for at least a month).

But then the family left and my final 2013 client projects were all done and we just melted into a PJs-till-lunchtime routine. I feel like I've caught up on a year's worth of sleep deprivation. We've had tickle fests and movie nights and sledding and a bit of crankiness and painting and alone time and a lot of lounging. And today we can't go outside because it's -14 degrees (with -45 degrees wind chill) and school has been cancelled tomorrow due to cold and it looks like this:

After a few days of laziness I jumped into some sewing projects for myself and the family (because sewing for myself is how I relax).  I have two girls' baptism dresses, two woman's dresses (one for me and one for a friend), and a top to share with you in the next stretch. And then this little guy was one of my last projects in 2013. I sewed it up for Belly's kindergarten teacher from last year whose baby is due right about now:

Mrs G was a wonderful kindergarten teacher - funny, creative, the right kind of firm, smart, and just cool - the kind of person I'd want for a friend in different circumstances. I've got my fingers crossed that Mooper gets her when she starts in 2015.

The elephant pattern is from the book One Yard Wonders, which is the first sewing book I owned.  The book is full of good projects for beginners, and stash-busting projects for the more experienced.  This pattern is super easy and takes less than 1/2 yard of fabric.  It's my go-to gift for new babies because the trunk is so much fun to chew. I haven't made one of these guys in a year or two and I think the next time I make it I'm going to add a seam to the head so that I can insert the ears instead of attaching them with a slip stitch (it seems like even a medium-strong baby could yank them off without too much effort). This elephant was made up from the stash of shweshwe fabric that my good friend Candice hauled back from South Africa for me.

I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday season and a good start to 2014.  Onward, Ho!

Peek-a-boo!