wonderful friends

I feel so privileged and blessed to have these beautiful women for friends. We all met our freshman year at Taylor University, 3rd floor, English Hall. Nearly 10 years later (does that make me feel OLD or what?), we're still really close. Through all of life's changes--marriages, children, some of us moving across the country and around the world--I still feel really connected to each of them. I know that in a time of crisis or joy, we all would be there for each other. We've tried to all get together at least once a year--this year we met in the Chicago suburbs in October. We had a really sweet time together.


Jenni and Ed are expecting their first baby in February--we threw them a small shower.

Rebecca with her sweet little girl:

I made a blankie for the baby--she seemed to like it (it went right in her mouth :-)

turtles, turtles, everywhere...

I found this cute little pattern at Sew to Speak (a great little sewing shop in Clintonville- here's a link to their online store) and have been making several turtles. Most of these have gone as gifts this Christmas, but I'm selling them too, for $15 each. They would make a great toy (my nieces loved them) or pin cushion, or I can make the little guy into a scented sachet!

a Weber Christmas

Keith and I hosted my family's Christmas gathering yesterday at our apartment. We had 7 adults and 3 kids and lots of gifts and delicious food crammed into our little space, but we had a good time.

Here are Ben and Caroline with some gifts. Ben seemed to like the gift bags as much as anthing else!
Grace said that the turtle was her favorite gift--that made my day :-)

The girls with our tiny Christmas tree:

What do you think?

I've been working on making some handbags as Christmas presents this year. (If you're on my Christmas list this year, I'm probably letting the cat out of the bag - no pun intended! - on what you're getting! Sorry!)

A friend of mine had the idea of making bags to sell. And I've been thinking on it for a few weeks. I've had fun creating these purses and I have even gotten some compliments on them recently. So, I'm posting this here to get some feedback! Tell me what you think! Below are some of the sample bags I've been working on recently. If this works out, I'd like to start selling the bags to start raising some money toward a future adoption (or maybe some sort of ministry or development project, like with Change One). If you like these and are interested, let me know! I don't have a ton of time to work on things before Christmas, but if you'd be interested in giving a bag like this as a Christmas gift, just get in touch with me and I'll see what I can do.

Alright...on to the bags!

Here's a large-ish tote bag, that could be used as a diaper bag. This one is actually up for grabs at the moment, if anyone is interested! I made this one as a sample out of fabric I had on hand yesterday. I took a picture with our chairs, so you could get an idea of the size:

Here's a picture of the inside--the pattern calls for pockets on both sides, but I ran out of fabric for that with this one:

The bag is fully reversible, so here's what that looks like:

These are some other samples (these ones aren't available right now, but could be replicated fairly easily):

Here are 2 different sized bags, both made from a dark brown corduroy with contrasting fabric on the inside. All of the bags are reversible and most have small inside pockets.

(Here's the reverse of the larger purse from the photo above. I love this fabric!)

I'm carrying this one around with me currently--I loved the contrasting dots and stripes!

Here's another brown corduroy, with green on the inside. Also reversible:

violets

Keith bought me a couple of African violets for our anniversary last year. I killed one of them almost immediately. I kept this one alive for a year and a half, but couldn't for the life of me get it to bloom again. Until now! I must have it in just the right window or something, because it has blooms on top of blooms. It makes me so happy to see it blooming, especially since my boy gave this to me to celebrate our anniversary. And also because most things outside are frosty and dead these days.
(I like how my grandma is in the picture at the corner of this one--she would appreciate my blooming violet. If I have any sort of green thumb, a good bit of it comes from her!)

Fun with Sewing!

This fall, I have re-discovered my love of sewing. This has been a great creative outlet for me over the past few months. About 3 years ago, my aunt bought me a sewing machine at a yard sale. I used it a little bit here and there, hemming pants for Keith or mending a seam, but I hadn't really done much sewing since I was a young teenager.

I had some motivation a couple of months ago, when I found out I would have the opportunity to see some of my good friends from college. One had a baby recently, and the other is expecting in a few months. I always like to give a gift of something home-made if I can, so I worked on these blankets and pillows:

All things considered, they turned out pretty well! I felt pretty good about my work. Then, when my friend Abigail invited me to take a sewing class with her, I was excited to sign up! We worked for 2 weekends on coats. I had so much fun and learned many new things. And the best part is that I created this super cute coat!

The sewing shop where we took the class has all sorts of really cute patterns and fabrics. Every time I went in there, I wanted to buy lots and lots of stuff! I did indulge in this turtle pattern. I made this little guy and gave him to my sister for her birthday:

plants and things

Over the last few years, I have grown to realize my love of green and growing things. I always thought my mom was so weird with her love of digging in the garden and pulling weeds out of her flower beds. I think I understand it a little better now, even though I'm not sure if I can fully articulate all of it. There's something wonderful about tending a garden and watching it produce fruits and vegetables; or planting bulbs in the fall and see their green stems coming up through the cold ground in the spring.

I have quite a few houseplants, too, which has been a point of contention at times in my marriage. Keith counted them a couple of months ago, and there were 19 plants...so, I gave a couple of them away...and then adopted a couple more when our friends moved overseas. I may be up to 20 now, but who's counting? I think there must be something about nurturing a plant that's good for my soul.

(These are Karen's cone flowers...love 'em)

Keith's Birthday

We went out with a few friends to dinner and a movie to celebrate.

my recent accomplishments

I've been working on these blankies for a little while, and finally finished! I just needed to brag on myself a little... :-)

new stuff for change one!

I've been working on a video for Change One for a couple of months, and finaly finished it today! If you want to check it out, please visit the Change One blog. I have some updates there on the Christmas rice project, too.