Make Your Own Toys by Sue Havens

I got this book for Christmas and haven't tried it out yet, but it looks pretty adorable! It's all sewing patterns, which is good because I'm not great at sewing and it'll be nice to have something cute to  inspire me to practice. A few of them require you to make patchwork fabric (like the kitty, which I think I want to make first) so I went thrifting for some clothes with different patterns and colors that I can cut up and put together. I think this is a pretty good start, but I'll probably end up knitting a few multi-colored squares to use here and there to make everything more colorful. That's what I like about this book, though-- it encourages you to go thrifting or use your old clothes to make stuff, which just makes sense.

The patterns seem pretty easy, so wish me luck!

 

A few favorites: 

MR. BIG HEAD. I am obviously making him asap. 

Oliver: Three Months

This little boy!

He is my favorite little boy. This month he started doing wonderful things like sleeping through the night (!) (probably short-lived, but pssh who cares) and giving us big gummy grins and doing super push-ups on his play mat. He's been batting at toys and loves looking in the mirror. He doesn't laugh yet but he makes plenty of little happy noises, including this weird croak-y sound (I call it a pre-laugh). Mornings are his happiest time, and they're still the best part of my day because I love when he wakes up and smiles at me like, "Hey! It's YOU!! You're still here!" I'm here, sweetface, and I'm not going anywhere ever ever ever.

Taking his monthly photos is fun but interesting because of the whole can't-sit-up thing, so we have about twenty seconds before he slumps over and we have to stop the whole operation and prop him up again (which you can tell from the chalkboard smudges-- when we were done the back of his head and onesie were covered in chalk). But the cuteness! The cuteness is worth it.

I'm looking forward to so many things, like making him laugh. I can't wait to make him laugh! We went on our first stroller walk over the weekend and it was a big hit, with him babbling to himself the whole time like he was trying to talk about everything he saw. We've taken him on walks in the Ergo before but he would just fall asleep, so it's nice to be able to show him things. A couple months ago we were so nervous about how you're supposed to just leave the house and do things with a baby coming along too, but it's much less scary now. You just leave the house and do things, but the baby is there too! Who knew. 

Adventures in vegan pie-making: Razzleberry

I made my first apple pie on Thanksgiving (it was a big success!) and now I'm hooked. I wouldn't stop talking to everyone about how much fun it was and how I wanted to buy pretty pie plates and make lots of pies from now on. I don't know why I love it so much, I suppose because they're deceptively easy but so satisfying to look at after you're all done.

 I've made a few basic pies before-- just simple ones with no-bake pie shells-- but never anything that required me to make my own dough, so the apple pie was a pretty big deal. I must have been going on about it an awful lot because I got six pie plates for Christmas! Ahaha. Three deep-dish and three regular. The three regular ones are vintage pyrex that belonged to Jeremy's great aunt, but his mom gave them to me along with a vintage enamel cookware set that I'll have to show you once I get them cleaned up. Orange seventies goodness!

I also got Vegan Pie In The Sky and I'm excited to cook my way through it. Pies! Pies for every holiday! Pies for no reason! It's your birthday? HAVE A PIE. Tuesday? PIE TIME. I'll try to post about the successful ones if I can manage to get good photos of them. Food photography is ridiculously hard.

This one is Razzleberry courtesy of Rebecca's mom from Girl's Gone Child, although I keep accidentally calling it Snazzleberry out loud. Jeremy called it Snozzberry. I picked it because it looked delish and I already had frozen blueberries and raspberries on hand, and it was easy-peasy to veganize by switching the butter to Earth Balance.

It turned out delicious, and quite pretty too! I don't expect it to last very long around here.

I'm a deer.

I blend in, right? 

I made a deer hat! I never knit hats for myself but this winter I'm determined to change that. I have plans for a mouse hat and a polar bear and maybe a plain one with a pom pom, and then I'll at least be prepared next winter and won't have to scramble around and wish I had been on top of things (like I always do).

I also need a decent pair of mittens, because that's another thing I always make for other people and never have time to make for myself. I only have my piggy mittens. There are so many patterns I want to try and not nearly enough cold weather months to justify them, but shhh. They're fun.

f21 cardigan
thrifted skirt & boots
chinese laundry tights
thrifted/vintage children's coat