Month 6

   My little cowboy. 6 months. 6 long and short months. When I first laid eyes on you on that warm February day, I thought my heart could never feel fuller. But in 6 months it has only grown and expanded to levels I never knew possible. You are a bright and reliable light in our lives. You love freely and fully and forgive just the same. You are patient and easygoing. You are strong. You are funny. You are the little boy of my dreams.

Stats:

19 lbs (80%) 29.5" (off charts)

You are a rolling machine.

You are also a planking machine.

You will be crawling in no time.

You still love your jumper but only if everyone is in your line of vision. I have snuck out of the room to get ready too many times and you are on to me.

You have survived the torture of crying it out. I honestly got to the point where my brain was telling me I was going to die from lack of sleep. I have never experienced this level of exhaustion. You cried 30 min for the first nap, 35 for the afternoon and 35 for the night. That was 3 days ago and since then I haven't heard you at all! That might have more to do with me turning the volume off on the monitor but hooray! I am finally getting some quality sleep and you still love me.

Twice this month you have fussed when I tried to rock you to sleep and out of options I laid you down in your crib only for you to quietly fall asleep on your own. 

You are really attached to momma and my right arm is getting really buff toting you around.

You have had carrots, apples and peas. You are getting better about swallowing but so far aren't crazy about any of it.

After various tests with the allergist it has been determined that you have no food allergies but are intolerant to dairy, soy, mold, pollen, cats and dogs. So relieved you will grow out of your dairy and soy sensitivity.

You find potty training hilarious and laugh hysterically when your sister is in tears. Thanks for the levity you bring to those situations.

Just in the last few days you have gotten much better at sitting up on your own.

We just adore you, Buddy Gus!

Sewing Sewing Sewing

The hum of my sewing machine has been the dominant noise in our house the last month. Something, or maybe a little someone, has inspired me and even though I am exhausted when I finish one project, I have been starting a new one immediately. I'm not much for summer so I think I lost inspiration when it came to dressing Rivers this season. Most of her clothes were from Target, not a bad thing, but I think I purchased most of them with the mindframe that she can wear them to preschool and I will not be devastated if they are ruined. But fall is around the corner and I am envisioning her in sweaters and knee socks, boots and full skirts and most of all pinafores. I am on a total pinafore kick. I have been working on some new designs and trying to fine tune them and make them as neatly as possible because I have been thinking of selling them. Here's a little lineup of everything I have made in the last few weeks.

I finally finished the beast that was Buddy's quilt. It is imperfect to the 10th degree but it is done and he will have to live with it. 

Already making himself real comfortable.

I couldn't sleep one night because I wanted to make this so bad. The next day I asked Dave if I could have a quiet sewing day and he took the kids to his parents' house for a few hours. What a sweetheart.

Pinafore, Pinafore, Pinafore!

MORE PINAFORES!!!!

This is Butterick 5877 and it was so much fun to sew. So much fun that right after I made it, I made another. And then another. And I will probably make some more.

The sequin bow was a happy accident. I could not get the top buttonhole to go in properly and I needed something to cover the big mess. I sewed this black and red sequin bow on and then used a hook and eye enclosure and presto! All better.

Here is the second version.

And the third which little miss wore on her first day of year 2 of preschool.

I bought this pattern on Etsy and I cannot wait to make every single version. I love sewing vintage patterns so much. So simple and I love to imagine who else has used the pattern before me.

And would you believe I actually ripped the seams out on my tragedy striped dress? I broke a needle on my serger so I can't fix it quite yet but I took the first step.

Quilting and Sewing

I've become really obsessed with quilts. I spend more time than I care to admit looking at them on Pinterest before I go to sleep. When I lay down it is like a kaleidoscope as patterns and colors flash in my head rendering beautiful hypnogogic hallucinations. I have a hard time falling asleep because I am literally too excited about all the amazing possibilities of quilting. I started liking them in 8th grade home-ec where we learned to sew pinwheels and I made my mother a "surprise" blanket at home. How surprise could it really be when I am sewing on her machine and consistently asking for help? She might have even had to sew the backing on to her own surprise quilt, of this I can't be certain. Those silly pinwheels, they stuck with me and after I had Rivers I was inspired by them again. I made this travesty of a quilt which caused me to stop thinking about quilting for a good long while. I still like the colors but I sewed it quickly and carelessly and some of the seams are starting to slowly spread further and further apart. Then Gus came along and the little feller couldn't be left out and sew (Freudian slip here, for reals) I knew I had to suck it up and make another.

I had made all of Gus' bedding and changing pads for his room so I had a lot of coordinating scraps. The crib bumper got put on the back burner because I knew I wouldn't be using it for several months. He recently started getting his foot stuck through the slats and while I tried to use one of the mesh breathable bumpers, I got sick of the sight and he started rolling well so I knew it was time to make the bumpers. At this time I had already started on his quilt and I needed to know how much of the fabric would be left over from the bumpers to use in the quilt so I had to finish project B (bumpers) before I could continue on project A (quilt) which I was more excited about.

I needed 14 yards of piping. That means 14 yards of bias tape. That means, bleh. I really dislike sewing bias tape and it always looks terrible when I'm done. So 14 yards of the junk sounded terrible. I stumbled across this continuous bias tape tutorial and I am a changed woman. It required two seams and some cutting along some lines and within 20 minutes I had 16 yards of bias tape. Perfectly spaced, beautifully diagonally sewn, seams matching up bias tape. One of my favorite sewing tricks to date.

The bumpers came together pretty quickly and I am glad to say they are done. Very glad. I have so much leftover fabric from them that I can't wait to add to Gus' quilt.

Safe, yes. Pretty? No.

The pattern I settled on for the quilt is driving me bonkers so at this rate it may be done in time for Gus to take it to college. Last night I pulled two blocks out because some of the HST's had been sewn in the wrong direction. I fixed them this morning and when I laid them back down I saw two more that were wrong! Someone is messing with me while I sleep. I think I have them all fixed but I keep trying to stare at them cross-eyed hoping any mistakes will be more visible. If I sew the darn thing together and later find a mistake....oh it won't be pretty.

Are you staring at it cross-eyed now?