All decked out for the holidays

I had so much fun decking the halls of our home for the holidays! It was really neat to have a house to host the annual Christmas party in and get to share the joy (and lots of food) with our friends.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

We had a light snowfall last night! It didn't last too long, but put a wrinkle in traffic around the city. Our house got a wonderful winter coat for the night -- I think we probably got about 2 inches in our neighborhood (there was even a full size snowman on the next block over!).

The first step towards the nursery!

We made our first major step towards setting up the nursery ... we bought a crib! No surprise, it is quite traditional:


It is convertible which means it can be a toddler bed and then a full size bed (very practical :) - Matt likes it):

It actually looks very similar to our bed ... hmmm ...

We also bought the trim to put up chair rail! Fun! And I was thinking it would be neat to have black and white photographs of family in there? Not sure on the color scheme yet .. still planning.

The Christmas Ornament Obsession

So my first obsession is with styrofoam balls (courtesy of Plasteel), ribbon, pins and sequins. These are totally throwback to the '60s and '70s, and I love them! They are a bit tedious and do call for extensive use of a thimble, but I think the effort is worthwhile. I have many more in my head just waiting to take shape!

I found some really cute Prairie Schooler ornament patterns and tried this trio ...

And my major obsession -- Mill Hill Beaded Ornament Kits. Here's the ones I did this year (with a few more in the works). I got a lot of the work done on airplanes and in hotels while on business trips - good way to pass the time! I really like the ones with animals in them.

It's (going to be) a boy!

We got back from our first ultrasound today and found out we'll be having a boy! We're pretty excited and now it's time to set up the nursery and think about names ...

The baby was covering up its face with his arms, but we got a few shots ...

So much fun to come!

We're Expecting!

I am finally making my long overdue post with the news that we're expecting our first baby in March (March 31st is the EDA right now). We're very excited and I'm already thinking of all of the things to do and to get finished before the arrival of our little one!

My current thoughts for baby projects are a small quilt (for the floor or for the baby's room), maybe a diaper bag (although I am so tempted to get myself a Vera Bradley bag), and paint / decorate the nursery (I'm going with the very popular spring green and white/cream look -- not too themey, but bright colors with turtles and frogs and maybe a duck or two... lots of different patterns - paisleys, stripes, polka dots).

I am also trying to finish up several outstanding projects (a cross stitch stocking, lots of half finished ornaments, etc.). Wish me luck!

Post Script -- I've rethought the color scheme now that Mom and I have started working on a navy and white quilt and we've found out it's a boy ... probably not going with greens and whites, but still not sure what I'm doing!

A Bag for Emily

I finished another bag ... this one is for Emily! It's a much smaller one - more like a purse. I didn't do any zippers this time, but I did match the pattern on the pocket with the bag. I made lots of bias tape for this project, and didn't break any needles (although the current one is on its way out). I'm having fun with my new toy!