mark your calendars!

Another Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway Day is coming up this week! Check out their blog this Wednesday, December 2 for all of the many, many participating crafters. I'll be one of them, and here's a sneak peek at what I'll be giving away....


...See you then!

news

It's been a whirlwind week around here! Lyric's birthday, preparing for Thanksgiving, a nice visit with my Grandpa, getting some new items made and posted in the shop (time for a photography class, I think...), working on the many custom book orders I've accumulated, and taking a trip to visit family in northern New Hampshire have taken a toll and we're officially pooped today. But with less than a month until Christmas the show must go on!

Here are some snapshots from our week:

pirate party antics in the loft

drinking lots of cider

at home haircut

bellydancing after dinner

riding Opa's tractor

practicing for a pet

a brief visit to our old home in VT

missing wide open spaces

I finally found the time to work on a shop update, man that takes a long time! Here are some of the things you'll find:monogram card sets

scrap fabric card sets

holiday card sets

appliqued wall art

three is a magic number

It's been a big week around here. Aside from working like mad on custom orders and trying to fit in some readymade stuff for the holidays (shop update hopefully on Wednesday though it may have to wait until we return from our holiday travels) this past Wednesday was a very special day for us.Lyric by the fire just after being born

Lyric, my sweet baby boy, turned three. It doesn't seem possible that it was a whole three years ago that he joined our little family, and yet it feels like he's always been here. He brings so much joy and humor (and singing and dancing and jedi-mastering) into our lives, he's so awesome.

And now he's officially a "big kid"--he also started at the Free School on Wednesday! Of course, he's been spending lots of time there his whole life so he had no reservations about being there on his own. I'm a little sad that my little one is growing up so fast but mostly I feel as if we've entered a new era full of possibilities. I will actually have time to work now!

it's hard to go from holding up two fingers to holding up three

Here are some pictures of the birthday boy throughout the week, including at his swashbuckling pirate party:

the invitation

inside the pirate ship...too much grog

3 letters on 6 pages

I find that an extraordinary amount of children's names these days are 6 letters long, which works well for me since I originally developed my books to be 6 pages long. However, there's no need to exclude all of the little Eli's, Ava's and Kai's out there since it's just as nice to do 2 pages for every letter!

And so, here's my latest 3-letter name book on 6 pages (and my first try at a homemade lightbox, foolishly set up in my red room...):

getting in the spirit

Though the weather's been warm and it's not even Thanksgiving yet I'm already gearing up for the winter holidays. I'm warding off the feeling that I'm actually a bit late with all of this, but I'm determined to be at least a little less stressed this year while doing a bit more for and with my family.

I'm excited to be a part of Leah's stocking stuffer swap again this year and have just signed up for Sew Liberated's holiday traditions swap. I've got some good ideas and am excited to put it all together. Plus, it's so much fun to get a bit of surprise mail, especially at the holidays!



I'm also planning a big holiday shop update which, if all goes according to plan, will be on Friday, November 20. Be sure to check it out!

i

My latest work:

city cider

The stars aligned yesterday in our neighborhood as many folks found themselves with copious amounts of apples (see Leah's post) and a willing cider press. Together we all made lots and lots of apple cider--I didn't get a final tally; 35 gallons? We ended up with 5 gallons for hard cider and about 3 gallons of sweet, plus a bin of the chopped-up, squeezed-out apple bits that Skye's determined to ferment and freeze into applejack. Plans are in the works for a winter doldrums party. February at the Boatshop, people!

adult halloween

Well, luckily I thought to take some quick photos before our big adult party on Friday night because this is all I have for the Emma Goldman and Disposable Man costumes:

the camera is an anachronism, I know...

...here she is for real.

I hope you had as much fun as we did!