natalie maed: October 2009

tall socks

After two years of intermittent knitting, I have finally finished my tall socks!

Just in time for the cooler weather too!

I can't help but feeling a bit sad when a project is coming to and end, especially ones that have been on the go, and have been in the background of so many of our family events and daily activities. Eventually, that all gives way to the excitement of beginning a new knitting project, one of the many that come quickly as ideas but more slowly to materialize on the needles. So now I've begun my fall project of a knitted item for each member of the family, dresses for the girls, beanies for the boys. Happy knitting!

Orchards are

Fun in the sun

Gather 'round folks, It's story time!

Our weather lately, has been a bit foggy and overcast especially in the mornings. So as we prepared for our early jont to the farm we thought surely this would be a time for warm sweaters, layers and pants. (usually we girls just love our skirts, no matter the weather we'll just wear taller socks, thank you very much) ;) But alas, the morning sun was a beamin' and we were quite the toasty bunch. All except for little Lil. Who had an explosion (Yes, that kind) on the long drive over. Oh, and did I mention the we didn't discover this until after we arrived?

Oh Yes, here let me share with you...

Our conversation went a little like this:

Scene-Daddy changing baby on hood of car...in parking lot...tiny parking lot...siblings racing off in all directions...

Did you grab the extra pants I laid out on the bed?

::long pause::

No? ...Did you?

Nope, ...okay, I'll dig in the bag to see if we have anything.

:searching::

I've got two pairs of socks...and...five sun hats

now thinking to myself(I did bring that green yarn,maybe I could knit up a pair?)

::silence and blank expressions until...

Spots fabulously dressed older sister, wearing two shirts::

genius!

TA-DA!

The always practical (and quite literal) shirt dress and rain boots combo is born!

Thanks to Nia's incredible fashion sense

the day was saved, or maybe the parents were?

All clothing catastrophes aside, we're now the proud owners of 20lbs.

of Organic apples, give or take.

Now, what to do with all these apples, juice anyone?

Every day holds countless possibilities for joy

and certainly humor. Like the laughter I expect to hear from my wonderful husband. When he reads this post and sees that yes, I put that picture with him frowning in it.

Here's to knowing that we always find a way to work it out.

Love you ;)

A happy eggplant

After plucking this little beauty from our garden,

I was so overcome by this tiny cute eggplant I just had
to make a felted sweater replica. Okay...

...I made more than one ...

Alright, alright...

So, maybe I made five.

And that's not counting this beanie,

I made for the girls' beloved baby.

Oh, and the eggplant hair pins! But, I'll save that for another post.

:::

These are really too much fun &

ready for you to bring home

Also
Quite perfect for a fun game of, Toss the Eggplant into the Hat!

While driving to the organic apple orchard!

Check back in tomorrow to hear all about it!

Happy Thrifting!

Quite a successful raid on one of San Francisco's finest thrift stores. These lovely vintage pillowcases are patiently awaiting their fate at the sewing table.

I'm thinking ...shirts...skirts...oh I got it... maybe, some fun critter footpads!

Perhaps, for the animals I will be making with these***fabulous*** sweaters..

...angora & wool ...

Always my favorite thrift store find and the best for making soft cuddly animals. Recently, I stumbled across some very cute photos of a certain baby animal that I've never seen before. Yes, I'm keeping it a secret, for now at least. With these sweaters in hand, I'm ready to get started. Check back in for the big reveal later this week...give or take a week, depending...you know how it is with big crafting plans ;) I'm hoping for the best people!

...

So, thank you, wonderful people who recycle your clothing. More importantly,

thank you

fuzzy little bunnies, and woolly warm sheep for sharing in the first place.

up a tree

This was just too funny not to share.

Anyone out there with the little ones that refuse to wear even a stitch of clothing when the temperature is above 90 will understand. On one of the last of these unusually late in the season warm days, our Lil decided to copy her older siblings (big surprise there, right?)who just love to climb the large trees in the yard. Except, she was going to do this with no help from mama.... in the buff. Luckily, Evan was within earshot, and while he ran to get the camera, I spotted our little adventurer as she climbed even higher.

She stayed up there for quite a while, testing her weight on the thinner branches, delighting in mama's faces and shrieks of "no, not that one! Stop bouncing on that branch ,it's too small!"Finally, when she had her fill she turned to me. And with a look I have been trained by many before her to recognize. I reached my arms out just in time and with a huge smile,

she jumped.

dawn

ahhh... it's good to be back.

We seem to have resolved our little internet situation **fingers crossed***
So now it's time for some updates, I'll be posting throughout the week to catch everyone up on our latest comings and goings; apple picking,SF family day,costume creation, some sillyness, and of course lots of sewing & knitting!

pause

due to ongoing internet failure, I will be putting the blogging on hold for now.
As soon as things are back up and running I'll be posting again.

ellie evan

something about this sweet little elephant just reminds me of Evan

I've had these fabulous grey long sleeve cotton tees just sitting around for a while now. These among others, have been the generous donation of our dear friend Jim at: who is kind enough to throw me any misprinted or otherwise maimed tees. Thanks Jim!

So, one day it just hit me -elephants! I quickly got busy cutting and laying out pieces. This time around I actually remembered (yay!) to stop, and make patterns of the pieces, BEFORE I got too excited and just sew the whole thing together. You know, just in case I wanted to make another one...or..two, or four. ;) So fun to make was this little ellie, that I've made up two more already.

One with a pink yarn tail {organic cotton} and pink footpads to match, to which the lovely Liora has staked her claim. Upon seeing the pink pieces she exclaimed, "for me"? So yes, of course it's for you!