Roses Are Blue...

Have I mentioned my niece's initials?

No?  Well.  Here they are.  For real.  I decided this year I should start having a little fun with this.  I mean, the little old ladies won't even get it so who am I really going to offend?  I might catch a few people off guard...but that's funny!  Right?

I also made this hat for her.  Could you die?  I came *this* close to asking Alana to open it early because I just couldn't wait to see it on...unfortunately Willa has the GIANT Reynolds noggin and the hat didn't even come close to fitting.  Soooo, I guess I'll be making another one...

The problem with the holidays...

Man oh man, I understand now why so many craft bloggers post photos of food and share recipes around this time of year.  Unfortunately for me, I don't think there are many folks out there who want to see daily photos and stories about chocolate chip cookies (and I'm pretty much a one-trick pony in the kitchen).  Now in the studio it's a different story.  I have been working (and even finishing!) a bazillion projects these past few weeks.  But I have had to keep them all hidden until Christmas-gah!  I mean, I can't imagine anyone could get tired of looking at puppy pictures but even for me 10 days is a little too long...  Thankfully, now that all of the gifts (um, except one very special one) have moved on to new homes it is safe to post some photos. 

This project was a gift for my stepmom and it is made with a pattern from A is for Apron.  (And of course I have to thank Amy Karol yet again for the awesome bias tape tutorial!)

If y'all don't have this book you should definitely check it out.  The patterns have to be enlarged (which is a real bummer) but they are so cute that I think it is worth it.  This particular pattern is called Deep Pockets and was designed by Ruth Singer.  I think it looks like the old clothespin aprons although it is quite a bit larger.  In fact, the pocket is so big that it could probably haul the clothespins and the laundry...

The Joy of Six...

I can't believe it but my sweet little angel puppy, Cherry Sue, is six years old!  Her birthday, of course, is a guess since she was a rescue puppy but she was dumped at the pound with 4 of her litter mates at a very young age-only about 5 weeks.  So they were reasonably sure about the date.  Due to over-crowding at the foster home she came to live with us at only 6 weeks.  And now, Cherry Sue, the sweetest dog in the whole world is six years old...

Her favorite thing to do (besides lie in a sunbeam until she's about to have a heatstroke and/or sit so close to the fire that she's hot to the touch) is to gut her plush toys.  The poor little things last about 5 minutes before she has made a hole and savagely eviscerated them.  Her toy basket is full of limp plush carcasses.  But since it is her favorite thing to do, and it's her birthday, I made her a quick patchwork plushy to tear apart using scraps from my basket and a leftover squeaker.  I know it is a little wonky (a little wonky?) but seriously it will not last the hour.  Heck, it won't even last this post...

The picture of innocence.... Yay!  A new squeaky plushy!

5 minutes later...

What?  Why are you laughing at me?  

*sigh*  Y'all probably think that last photo is staged.  But alas it is not.  So much for the cute patchwork bone...happy birthday, Cherry Sue!

Shhhh..be very, very quiet..

...we're hunting Christmas trees...  Of course, here on the coast of North Carolina, tree hunting is a little anti-climactic.  It consists of driving to the Little League Charity Tree-Lot-in-the-Park to pick one from their (lovely) collection of pre-hunted and pre-chopped trees.  But they have a very cool system where they stick the trees into short lengths of PVC stuck into the ground all over the park just like a real forest.  So it's kind of like donning our boots and winter gear and driving to the mountains and trudging through the cold and snow in search of the perfect tree to saw down by hand and triumphantly carry back to the car and tie to the roof for the long ride home in the warmth with thermoses of hot cocoa...except for the boots, gear, hiking, sawing, cold, snow, hills, cocoa and mountains part.  We do tie the tree to the roof of the car though... Well, we will make up for the lack of hills and snow and hot cocoa and character-building with the forecast for tomorrow: a lovely 70 degrees.  We'll have to pop on our flip flops and take a walk on the beach instead. 

These are three of my favorite ornaments and again I did not make them (some craft blog this is, right?!)  They were a gift from a friend and I love them.  I keep them out year round hanging on my peg board.  Maybe this year I will attempt to make a few as gifts.  Every year I think I will and every year Christmas comes faster than the year before...