Let's just compile it, shall we?

I absolutely love oilcloth. I was so scared when I first thought about getting some, then cutting into it was nerve-wracking and then I fell in love with the punch, punch, punch noise the machine makes as the needle pokes through and it was all over. It's so easy to work with and there are such beautiful oilcloth designs out there now. When I have a few scraps I'm going to make this lunch bag. This little tote is actually about the size for a nice, big lunch (or a good lunch with a water bottle) and I have no idea what to do with it (meaning: who's it for?!). It's lined in a fuzzy, red flannel. I do like it!

I have 80 million bookmarks for different things I've seen lately (all courtesy of other blogs, for the most part, so thanks to you if it was from you!) so let's just get them all on here and tidy up a bit:

• This is absolute insanity. It makes me want to distance myself even more from popular culture and, well, people and that's not healthy. Who buys this stuff (if it's you, more power to you but why?)? These cardboard doll houses are cute and all, and bright too, but they're cardboard doll houses for insane amounts of money. Any child would rather make their own given the time, scraps and tools, don't you think? And I get the novelty (which I suppose is novel only if you don't have to do it, by the way) of putting your infant in a cardboard box but spend $100+ to do it? Huh? How many cute little wooden kitchens could I make for the money someone spends for one cardboard doll house?

• We're having a pretty great week around here, I've got to say, but there are times when I think I can't possibly take one more hour of sitting on our living room rug, spotting the boy as he climbs. I've said it before and I'll likely say it way too much in the future: this mama business is tough stuff. So it's sort-of refreshing when someone else says it too.

• I love this series of Smallpeople on applehead.

• There are sites about everything! The Mayfly noted this Street project and I note that the first street is my last name. It's fun to get a glimpse of streets all around the country.

• Hey, hey, I won something today (well, yesterday). Honeyflake is sending the boy and me some of her darling little gnomes. I feel so... lucky!

• Evidently I'm the very last person to try No Knead Bread, but I "need" to try it (oh, this is bad... I think what I really need is some more coffee to wake up a bit). It looks quite yummy.

• These little bunnies for a Bunny Toss are so cute and I know the boy would like them. She notes that for her boy the simple toys are the best ones, and the same goes here. I will say that the boy heavily campaigned for a little kid flip phone (I suppose it was a cell phone) at Target yesterday. It does the same "beeps" as a real phone and when the little girl said whatever she says when you press a certain button he talked right back to her excitedly. He's never actually really, really wanted us to get something at the store before and he even brought it up at the dinner table which I thought was a little crazy for a 17 month old. Hmmmm....

• Some of this yarn is just so beautiful and it would be so neat to dye your own. I'm the slowest knitter of all time though.

• I want a little of this, and this and oh, no... I just went to link to my favorite and it's GONE. Gasp. Amazing fabric.
  

We'll always have Saturday + Rose

This is Rose.
She is not a chicken and would be offended if you thought so. She's soft, oh so soft, and she has vintage button eyes which make her look very wise and a little quiet.

She does have a big back-story but she's not sure if she knows you well enough to share it all. She has some relatives who are chickens, and her eyes came with sewmamasew fabric. Rose has two siblings. She looks much better in person but there's no light here in Olympia. None. And I ironed that fabric about five times. What's the deal?

Last night the sewing machine got mad at me. Really, really mad (trip to the machine-fixer-upper place mad). I also actually stepped on the box of straight pins laying on the floor (major crafting party foul) and T had to come yank them out of my bare foot. The boy is getting incisors; misery, with the never ending rain, beset our household yesterday. As we were falling asleep last night T said "we'll always have Saturday." It's true. Saturday was magical fun with a little something for everyone and happiness all around. The only thing that seemed to stop the boy's frenetic, whiny pace yesterday was to cuddle under a big quilt with lots of books, which isn't so bad when you think about it. Today we have our class and a visit to the post office so we'll hope that with goldfish crackers and some cuddles we can make it through 'til nap time!

I love this tiara/crown and must make one (a crown) for the boy in the near future. Wouldn't it be a wonderful little gift for some deserving boy or girl (and what boy or girl isn't deserving of a beautiful crown?!). I'm also smitten with these owls over at Moonstitches.

Life is just better

Okay, they turned out a little more 80's than I originally pictured (and the zig-zag inspiration came not only from all of the little shop's splat mats but from this invite too, I'm sure!). T says that's fine though because the 80's are back, as evidenced by Wham reuniting and Prince's (he's not former any more, right?) Superbowl half-time show! The boy did the painting and coloring, and of course it's his hand. I did a similar one last year and I thought it'd be fun to include his hand every year so we can see how much he's grown. My, how he's grown!

C's art is so beautiful, and we're just barely into the scribble a bit and smash a bit of paint onto the paper phase. He looks so proud of himself whenever we do a little project and then hang it up on the art line by our front door. When his Nana and Grandpa came over one time days after he'd done some art it was the first thing he wanted to show them (at 13 months old!). Look at this wonderful idea from another Mama. Now that's one for "When he's older!"

T & I spent an inordinate amount of time this weekend making Save the Date cards, but I'm sure we'll all agree that it was worth it once the finished product is trimmed today! The poor boy had to make it through three bookstores in our quest for the right flower or tree clip art. He turns into this crazed little blur in bookstores, madly wanting to look at everything (flinging aside what doesn't interest him). It's exactly how I feel inside when I have a half hour in a great bookstore; he really is our little boy.

He's now officially a 16 month old and though the month "birthdays" don't register quite as much as when he was so new to us, it still throws me when a new month comes around. How can the boy be 16 months old already? Last week's ER visit threw me for more of a loop than I thought. I'm generally always fine in an emergency and then fall apart after (better, I suppose, than the alternative). My falling apart seems to be in little, heart-stopping, panicky aftershocks all week-- when I look at my little guy and am so full of who he is and then I remember how suddenly things got scary last week.

We saw a big billboard in our clip art quest yesterday. It showed a woman getting a massage and said, "It'll change your life." I was telling T that I would so love to get a massage some day (in my life... Chances are it could happen some day, right?) and he said, "It'll change your life." I had this moment of thinking I wasn't so sure I'd want it then. It'd have to change my life for the better, because things are pretty good around here!

Wow, do a lot of people live life listening to This American Life? I thought it was just me, but here's another crafty person's favorite. My all-time favorite radio moment is the story in Fiasco! (episode 61) about the Peter Pan play. I've listened to it over and over and I crack up every time. Hilarious.

I meant to show scone pictures but I got this far and then, suddenly, they were gone. That's how good they are, people!

Look for spring

#5 Look for signs of spring (hope!).

Our little mini-daffodils started to come out last night and I called the boy over to take a look. He got super-excited, raced over to the door, and wanted to go out. Immediately. I couldn't figure out what he wanted or what he was thinking for the longest time but then I realized... We had been playing outside yesterday, of course, and I showed C where the tulips are just starting to poke out of the ground. We (I) talked about how they would grow and grow and grow and then, POP!-- they'll be flowers. C thought that since our flowers inside had "popped," all of the flowers outside must be popping too. He wanted to take a look!

This book is amazing! Remember those dogs? The book finally came in at the library and I dove into a cat. I now have two ears and a bottom, courtesy of the first ever two episodes of "The West Wing" from Netflix.

T says he'll have to bring the laptop home this weekend and do a little work and I thought, "Oh, sad... Oh! I'll work on splat mats. Oh, and finish Valentines. And make those purses (that fabric from a not-too-long-ago post?!). Finish the cat? Start a dog? Do the, gulp, taxes." Aaahhh... With the choking drama and this blasted head cold (and no sleep) there's been very little housework happening around here. Looks like a busy weekend.

We did work on our Valentines yesterday, and here's what just a touch of Valentine craftiness looks like after about a minute with the boy:

It's about five minutes of doing and about 45 minutes of clean-up, which is about how I remember it being (if paint was involved) with my first graders.

Speaking of craftiness, I have to remember to link to all of the amazing ideas I see out there when I see them (before I lose them)... After our next grocery trip I'm definitely going to make some of this granola (yum!) and I know I don't have a little girl to sew for but I have to try some of these dresses. I don't think I'm a tea cozy kind-of gal, but these flowers in felt make me think of my sister and I know I could make her something beautiful, inspired by this idea. Okay, see-- I've lost the link already. Where was that? I also need a new label for "When he's older" because there are so many wonderful, crafty ideas out there that would be such fun to do when the boy is a bit older. Like these crayon hearts. And I still love these tubs (it helps, probably, that I have a busy, busy boy and over 200 tubs in storage from the aforementioned first grade experience!).