Borrowing for Baby

My friend Lisa just let me borrow a TON of her maternity clothes, and I am so thankful! We're about the same size, so it worked out perfectly. I picked out over 20 different items that I'm sure I'll be wearing sometime soon. Here's my loot: 

Belated Gift

I just gave my mother-in-law her mother's day present (I was really busy before, okay?). She had given me some tablecloths and runners that once belonged to her grandmother. They were just sitting in a drawer, so she wanted me to use them if I had an interest. She said I could cut them up and use the appliques to my heart's content. So, I decided to use the flowers and leaves from one of the rummers to make my lovely mother-in-law a lovely tote bag for her knitting supplies. She likes it :).

     

P.S. Don't worry Mom... your gift is on the way!

Songwriting With Sammy

I was trying to do some songwriting today, and I got out the harmonica to find some inspiration. All of the sudden, Dave's parent's dog started to sing along. What's ironic is that this actually lightened the mood and enabled us to finish a song:)

Better Late Than Never

I finished this dress several weeks ago, but I wasn't that thrilled with the way it turned out and therefore was not motivated to post photos. It's not awful, but I don't think I'll wear it. In making this dress I realized that grown-up clothes require MUCH more work and precision than baby clothes. I think I like making the small stuff better :).

You can see a hint of my little baby bump in this first one.

A New Creation

It's time to share the good news with the blogging world... I'm 12 weeks pregnant! Baby is due on December 6th, and Dave and I are soooooo excited. Here's a photo Dave took of me yesterday. I'm just barely starting to show.

What a Friend!

Two nights ago my friend Rachel gave me such a wonderful gift! She found this little beauty at a thrift store, and she said it made her think of me :)

I think I want to use it as the most fantastic Christmas tree skirt ever... after I iron it.

(Another) Bathroom Beginning

Here's a photo of our master bathroom.. which is also the only bathroom on the main level, which makes it the one that everyone uses when they come over to our house. We can't really make it any bigger (without spending tens of thousands of dollars) but we sure can make it nicer.

Since we're going to rip out the tub/shower in the basement bathroom and tile it instead, we decided that we wanted to do the same for the main bathroom (since it gets used WAY more). We're really going to town with this home renovation stuff, but we're hoping that it will add equity to our house.

Yesterday we bought some small square slate tiles for the floor (with dark gray grout), and white ceramic subway tile for the shower (with light earthy gray grout). We're also going to put up wainscoting and probably choose a different paint color for the wall, and maybe a different shower curtain. I'm hoping that when we get the tiling done in the shower that it will be pretty enough to leave the curtain open, and make the bathroom feel a little bigger.

Out With the Old...In With the Wind

This morning we had three windows replaced in our kitchen. The old windows (above) had lots of character, but the new ones ACTUALLY OPEN! It's so nice to be able to get a breeze blowing through the sometimes very warm kitchen.

Photo Shoot Part 2

We didn't take a whole lot of footage of the photo shoot, but this will give you an idea of what it was like. I'll post more photos once Casey edits them.

Temporarily Finished

I finally got the motivation to post some "after" photos of our downstairs bathroom because we're actually going to have to do a little more work on it. We're having some work done on our foundation to help water go where it's supposed to when it rains. The company wants us to take out the tub down there so that they can put some sort of drainage in underneath it.

We decided that if we're going to have to rip it out anyway, we might as well put in a nicer tub and tile it while we're at it. So, these are the before/after photos :). By the way, I'm so pleased with our Target find... the shower curtain is just perfect for that space!

Chicken & Horses

Yesterday we met our friend Whit in Louisville, Kentucky. He treated us to an AMAZING dinner at none other than Colonel Sander's house! It was hard not to eat five or more dinner rolls because they were just that delicious.

Whit ordered one of their all-you-can-eat chicken specials that came with 8 (!) sides. The picture below is his meal.

... and this was all I got with mine. Whit was more than willing to share, though.

After dinner he took us around the city and showed us the sites. He even showed us around the Keeneland racetrack. It felt so cinematic to be there. I half expected Seabiscuit to come trotting around the corner.


What a wonderful day!

Photo Shoot

When my friend Casey said that she was willing to do a photo shoot with me, I was VERY excited. She does some pretty artsy/moody stuff, and I'm so curious to see what she'll capture tomorrow... at 5:45am... at sunrise when we're doing the shoot. Oye!

Here's the lovely Casey showcasing one of the doves we made to hang from the trees in the background. Yes. That is a balloon and poster-board.

Katie cutting wings...

Here's a shirt that I might, but probably won't wear. It's going to be really hard to read what it says... it might not be enough contrast.

We're hoping to take our video camera to document our time. If we get any good footage, I'll post it :). AND I will definitely post the winning shots too.

I Heart Lamps

I bought a new lamp today to replace the little one you see on the side table (pictured above). I wanted to find one that was a bit larger for that space, and I found just the right one. I brought it home, and was pleasantly surprised to see just how well it fit in with our living room decor. Here it is...

Tulips For Reals

When we moved into our house, our friend Jeremy told us that the tree out front was called a Tulip Poplar. He said that he thought it got little tulip-like flowers on it once a year. So, the year went by, and we never saw any tulips.

Apparently we were out of town at the exact wrong time last year, because this year we were pleasantly surprised to find that there actually ARE little yellow and orange flowers that bloom on our tree!

Mother's Day

Today was a great day. We went to our church with Dave's parents, then came home for a light lunch. After that we were off to Dave's soccer game....

... where we braved the frigid temperature and gale-force winds (or maybe it was just a little cold and windy and we just didn't bring enough layers to wear).

Dave's team ended up winning 9-0, and he had 3 assists! We were so proud... we were the loudest fans there... even louder than that one other guy with his dog. Fortunately we had a chance to thaw out at the Cheesecake Factory (oh yum!).

Every Artist...

... is a THIEF!

I just made these for a client (doesn't that sound impressive?) who wanted two onesies for a baby boy. Making clothes for boys is so much more of a challenge than making little girl clothes, but it was a great stretch for me. I can't really take credit for these designs though, because I stole the ideas from someone else. I'm going to have to figure out a way to modify them so that I can keep making them with a clear conscience. Aren't they cute, though?!

Orchid

We were at Costco the other day and wanted to buy some flowers to put in a vase. Then we saw this beautiful orchid and decided that it would last way longer than fresh cut flowers... so we took it home with us. I normally have a black thumb, so I'm curious to see how long we can keep this thing alive. But for now, it sure is pretty.

Beautifying the Basement

Dave's parents are coming for a visit today, and I'm really looking forward to it. It will be fun to show them around Nashville and take them to some of our favorite spots. AND it gave me the motivation I needed to finally make the basement a bit more livable.

I hung some photos on the wall (including the famous "sad little Dave" picture).


It was amazing to see how hanging just one photo near the archway really softened the space.

I also decided to hang my green tapestry (found at an antique store in AZ) in the laundry room to disguise the ugly pipes on the wall (I should've taken a "before" photo... but I didn't).

We still need to repaint the floor that was damaged during our flood awhile ago. Another project, another day...

Arts & Crafts

Yesterday Dave and I went downtown to Centennial park to see the TACA (Tennessee Association of Craft Artists) festival. It was a perfect day to walk around and peruse the different booths. They had everything from tie died shirts to horse hair pottery (sounds gross, but is actually pretty cool).

We went especially to visit our friend Scott Phillips, who had a booth of his own. His artwork was actually my favorite of the festival. Here's a peak at his amazing work...



To see more or his art, visit his website.

Light Bright

When we renovated our kitchen, I had to take down my cute green chandelier. I FINALLY put it back up in its new home... right above my sewing machine. It coordinates perfectly with that little dress I have to finish, and as an added bonus, it will make it easier to sew at night!

31 Cents

For those of you who were (unfortunately) unaware, yesterday was 31 cent scoop night at Baskin Robbins. They have this wonderful event once a year, and we always try to take advantage. Dave and I met our friends Carol and Liam for pizza at the Mellow Mushroom (I just decided it's one of my favorites), then we took a short walk to make room for the ice cream, and headed over to Baskin Robbins. Fortunately the line hadn't gotten too long yet!

There were fire trucks parked out in front of the store. Liam went in for a closer look... although he looked a little unsure about the whole thing.


I got chocolate peanut butter, Dave got Daiquiri, Carol got Rocky Road, and Liam got an unusually sour batch of Rainbow Sherbet.


Fun times.