Birthday Girl

My best friend, after trying for years, had a second baby girl.

Who is now a year old. Okay, technically now she is almost 18 months. But who is counting?! And watching my best friend get what she has waited so long for? Is beyond fabulous.














- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Crafty Tuesday: Baby Lucas

I work on the busiest labor and delivery unit in the city, which means that I work with a large number of people.  Recently we have hired several new girls, and one of them was expecting.  Well November and December flew by, and before we knew it, baby Lucas's due date was quickly approaching.  So we decided to have a little baby shower one night at work.  And, because I completely lack the ability to say no, I was in charge of coordinating the shower...and of the group gift. 

I actually didn't mind -- since I am the one with the embroidery machine, I was quite happy to do a few personalized things.  I made a few burp cloths, and then decided that most of the things that I had purchased might be better with Lucas's name stitched on them.  A little name or monogram can turn a thirfty gift into something pretty neat, if I do say so myself!

I put a double monogram onto a market tote and then had the perfect container for all of our goodies!

I was pretty happy with the way everything turned out...but more importantly, so was Lucas's mom!

See what other crafty goodness is being displayed at Carrie's!

Crafty Tuesday: Gifts for Lily

My cousin and his wife have a lovely little family, that recently grew by one adorable tiny human.  They had their second baby, a girl.  And one of the best things about new people?  The opportunity to make baby gifts, of course! 

These are the things that I made for Miss Lily. 

I did some burp cloths:








An infant gown:


This was before I added the ribbon in the middle.  At first I thought that I would just leave it like this.  But I really think that the ribbon makes it just a little cuter...



(I don't know why it looks so stretched out in this picture - other than because it's just a quick snapshot with my iphone - in person it's a much more normal shape around the middle where the ribbon is...)



And a set of sibling shirts:






It had been a while since I had stitched a onesie, and I forgot how difficult they can be sometimes, due to their small size!  I also did this after I had spent many hours working on other things, so when the little mistakes happened on the butterfly I decided to keep going and just make it work.  I figured that tiny humans grow pretty fast, so I'm hoping that no one really notices my errors!

See what everyone else has to share for Crafty Tuesday at Carrie's!

Crafty Tuesday: Burp Cloths

Now I realize that it's actually Wednesday.  But I didn't have time to upload photos yesterday, so crafty wednesday this week it is!

I took a break from sewing...not on purpose, but just because January and February were really hard months for me school/schedule wise.  I hardly had time to remember my own name, let alone get motivated to do anything else. 

But motivated or not, there were a few things that I just had to get finished for gifts.  And burp cloths are an absolutely PERFECT use for my new serger.  Which I picked because I remembered the lovely and amazing Carrie talking about how much she loved hers.  And anything that's good enough for Carrie is MORE than good enough for me...especially when it comes to crafting! 

So these are a few of the first burp cloths that I did with my new serger.  She is a great little machine...or at least she is once I figured out how to thread her -- which I will admit took me almost two hours, many attempts and even more four letter words.  But it was well worth the effort, because having a serger made these SO EASY!

These are so easy and quick to make....a perfect last-minute baby gift!

Crafty Tuesday: Onesie

Not too much to share this week -- work has been crazy and I haven't had much time to photograph some of the other things that I have made. But I do have this onesie that I made -- the name didn't turn out exactly like I had wanted -- but I love the little bird/birdhouse!

To see all the crafty goodness that everyone else has, see what is being shared at Carrie's!

Crafty Tuesday: Gifts

Last week a friend of mine asked if I could make a baby gift for her sister-in-law. Up until this point, all but one of the gifts that I have made I have given to people from myself, meaning that even if it didn't turn out all that well, it would still fall under the "it's the thought that counts" heading. So I wasn't totally sure that I was qualified, but I have always liked the baby gifts I make, so I figured why not.

I was pretty pleased with the way it turned out.

It was nice that this gave me a pretty good excuse to try out some of the new fonts that I have gotten...I swear I find a new one that I like just about every day!






This onesie also gave me a chance to use another new font -- it was much easier to use that I thought it would be, and I was pretty happy with the way that it turned out.

It was actually nice to be able to make something for someone else to use as a gift. I am seriously thinking about an etsy shop -- as it turns out, people pay quite a bit for things that are personalized! With something like that, I just might be able to help pay for my habit :)

Favorite

My very favorite thing about Thursdays is my standing lunch date with my favorite baby and her mom.



While I can't wait for her mom to come back to work, a 3 hour lunch once a week sure does wonders to brighten a week! :)

Learning New Things

Since I have gotten my new sewing machine I have been a crafting fool. And it turns out the machine does even more than I realized -- it can applique! So clearly I had to learn to do that too...and I have to admit, it was MUCH easier than I expected it to be!

For those that have asked, this is the sewing machine that I got. And embroidery with a machine? Is incredibly easy! And fun! And cute! I had thought about getting one for a long time, and I honestly don't know what in the world I was waiting for -- all you do is tell it the design you want and then it does it all on it's own! It's fabulous -- and it makes adorable gifts! I do have a machine that does both embroidery/applique and sewing, but so far I have only used it for embroidery/applique -- I have a regular sewing machine that I use for everything else (you have to change out the feet and part of the base for embroidery/applique vs regular sewing and it's easier for me to just use my other machine).

For anyone that has been considering an embroidery machine, this is one that I definitely recommend -- it's super easy to use...if I can do it, anyone can!

The only other thing that I have made this week is a fuzzy blanket -- one of my coworker's babies ended up in the NICU and was having a bit of trouble keeping her temp up...and since I had some extra flannel and fur around, I knew just the thing to keep her warm :) I am happy to report it worked -- she stayed nice and snuggled and went home today!

Now go see what everyone else has been crafting this week at Carrie's...I promise it will put all of my craftiness to shame!

Special Delivery

I would have been better about telling everyone what I've been up to (which, in case you are wondering, is nothing much), but all of my coworkers have decided now is a good time to deliver.

And, well, being there for the arrival of people that I've been anxious to meet is one of the absolute coolest things about my job.

Crafty Tuesday: Second Verse Same As The First

That's right, a second week of Crafty Tuesday goodness from me! Shocking, I know! But don't blame me...blame all my friends and coworkers who keep getting knocked up and thus requiring celebrations and gifts for their new offspring. Don't drink the water around here folks...

Really, I don't mind a bit. I love a good excuse to be crafty, and I am thrilled to be crafty and then be able to send the items on to new homes.

Most of my gifts are similar to what I had to share last week. Although improved a bit, if I do say so myself...

I don't even want to tell you how hard it was to figure out how to get this to work without ruining the onesie. Holy Cow. It's a good thing that I had lots of extras to work with, because there were several that got tossed in the making...


See what else everyone has been up to for Crafty Tuesday -- I'm sure that everyone's creativity will put me to shame. But hopefully there will be some good ideas out there for me to 'borrow'...

Crafty Tuesday

I am pleased to report that, for the first time EVER, I have something to share for Crafty Tuesday! Something that *I* actually crafted! With my own hands! Seriously!

I really like to do crafty things...I am just not so good at making time to do it...but here is what I've been working on this week -- baby gifts!

For more crafty goodness, see what everyone has to share at Carrie's!

Friday Favorites

I know, I know, everyone talks about their favorite things on fridays.

So I'm going to too.

And right now? I love this: http://milasdaydreams.blogspot.com

Have you seen it? Because if you haven't, you should. It's creative...and more than that, ADORABLE!

*****
In other news, this appears to be my 500th post. Who would have thought that after that many that I could still come up with random and mostly useless things to say?

Yeah, on second thought I'm not that surprised either...

Happy Friday!

Nursery Babies

The well baby nursery is attached to the labor desk at work, so we can see into the nursery while we sit and chart, etc.

We can also hear the nursery. And while new people might be small, when they are pissed off they can sure let you know it. LOUDLY. Well, loudly compared to the sleeping ones anyway. So when the natives are restless children are expressing their opinions, we try to help the nursery out and hold the fussy ones while we chart.

Holding babies is also an excellent way to warm yourself up when it's freezing.

And sometimes we like to play games with the babies. Our favorites are "what should your name be?" (we don't usually know what they are really named, everything just says Baby ______) and "what are you going to be when you grow up?"

We thought this little guy looked awfully smart, so we thought we'd get him used to doctor clothes right away....

Nice, no?


**Disclaimer: while this baby was in the nursery while I was at work, his mother is a coworker of mine. We do not play dress up or take pictures of the other babies -- although we do hold them until it's time for them to be fed or go out to eat again**

Best Shot Monday - Tiny Hands

For more amazing shots, see what everyone has to share at Tracey's!

The Little Things

I LOVE Christmas. I love the whole season - the decorations, the cards, the gifts, the parties, the celebrations, the hustle and bustle...I look forward to it every year.

Since no one seems to give out calendars to newborns, we're a 24/7 operation. Which includes holidays - and this year, Christmas Eve was mine. My mom still has a hard time grasping the concept of why everyone needs to take their turn working holidays, but that's a different story.

It might not sound like fun, working on Christmas Eve - and during a blizzard no less - while everyone else is celebrating with their families. But fun or not, yesterday being at work was exactly where I was supposed to be.

Her 90 minutes were spent with her family, making her know just how very loved and cherished and beautiful she was. And that deserves to be preserved and remembered. Given the combination of the weather and the holidays, there wasn't an actual photographer available.

But since I was working, my schedule was wide open.

There are other places that might have been more fun than work on Christmas Eve, but I'm still pretty sure that I was exactly where I was meant to be.

I hope that your holidays are filled with love, laughter, family, friends, and that the season shines for you in a million small and beautiful ways...Merry Christmas!

Wordless Wednesday: Happy Holidays!

Wordless Wednesday

Best Shot Monday - Hello, Joe!

Two weeks ago my coworker asked me to take some shots of her handsome new addition.

I'd say he's definitely a keeper!