update on baby hats

Here are the baby hats I have been working on! I took these photos a few days ago so the knitted pilot cap is actually finished now with ties attached (: I saw the same hat at at Melanie's blog, Our Ash Grove (one of my very favourite blogs) and I had to make it for the baby. I have only ever knitted scarves before and basically knew nothing at all about knitting, so the project was both exciting, frustrating, and a profound learning experience! Knitting from a pattern, doing things I have never done before and then seeing the finished result has been very good for me. I am completely obsessed actually and have started dreaming about knitting (-: I have already started on a second pilot cap in the next size up, which will hopefully fit Jude. My little loves can both have matching melons when the cold autumn winds start to blow...although I am using a different coloured yarn this time around. The top picture bonnets are adorable and I cannot wait to see them on a baby head. I lined all three with some green flowery flannel that I purchased way back before Isabella was born and I was sewing lots of baby nighties for her. Not the most 'masculine' fabric but does it really matter when they are that small? I don't think so. Jude wears a light yellow t-shirt with mushrooms on it all the time and while someone else might deem it sort of girly, I think he looks adorable (:

I also wanted to say thank you to Susana Tavares for featuring one of my designs on her blog post; a tribute to trees (: Yay!

oh, and I'm featured here too ~ at the fancy house road blog (:

tea and book party (:

Isabella and I used to have book parties quite regularly when she was little. We prepared a picnic blanket with snacks and tons of books, parked ourselves outside (or at the kitchen table when the weather turned cold) and read, read, read those books. I am delighted that Jude has now graduated to the book~party age (: There are fewer things I love more than children's books. I collected a whole bookcase full of them when I discovered I was pregnant with Jude! They travelled all the way from California to Ontario and now, finally, we are enjoying them together (:

As of late..

We have been baking, which is lots of fun for everyone..

and making diapers for robots and motorcycles (:

We took place in an outdoor art show

and got some new paints!

Lots of beautiful paintings are piling up! This makes my heart happy (:

Matilda is still with us. She likes to spend her days in the garden..

and we have also visited our friends at Willowtree market, which is only a hop, skip and a jump from our house!

Jude's love of tractors is really intense (;

We have been playing a lot..

and of course, picking mushrooms. Jude really loves to pick mushrooms!

The diapers and their wash~dry routine are pretty much endless in my little world. I can't believe I'll be diapering a second in November! Crossing my fingers that Jude will make the switch before then! (Not likely..but that's ok) I'm a big fan of not rushing things because I trust that they will unfold effortlessly in their own natural timing (:

Toddler naps are when Mama can do her new favourite thing...

Knitting! I am truly obsessed (: It is SO much fun, even more than crocheting I think!

The lovely Bella has been making bracelets for everyone. She wove the friendship bracelet and beaded the others (They are actually for the members of a certain secret spy club but that's all I can say about that)

Our fridge doth blossom with youthful creativity (:

A beautiful lunch:

Jason has been crazy~busy making origami, which has been selling like hotcakes in my shop. Yay! I make it too, but he's much faster and Jude never lets me out of his sight long enough to really make a dent in our orders. Night and nap time are this mama's magical moments for productivity (:

We have spent lots of time in the car driving to midwife appointments, the grocery store, the bakery, to weekend art shows and new destinations to pick up wonderful free finds off of freecycle (which is so fun by the way! I love meeting like-minded people!), to Staples, the post office, the library, swimming lessons and Native Focus (the shop where I occasionally work) Whew! It has been a busy month..

I am so proud of Bella. She is swimming beautifully!

And in between all of these crazy summer moments, Jason is madly preparing for his autumn teaching position at the college, I am seeking out local farmhouses for rent in the coming months and of course, growing a new baby boy to welcome into our family (: My belly is very, very round and the coming birth of this new soul is uppermost in my thoughts! Hence the knitting, and sewing of baby hats, crocheting of little toys and chronic floor-sweeping (:

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{{ this moment }}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. ~ inspired by Soule Mama

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more lovely garden moments!

1. the 'secret spot for sitting'. Jason spotted this wicker bench on the side of the road and brought it home for the garden (: It instantly created the most lovely sitting spot, being used by all of us, even the duck.

2. Sunflowers! My favourite! They are growing all around the bench, in the sunflower house I attempted to grow. It unfortunately did not turn out the way I had anticipated, there being very little light at the back of the house 'wall' and so only very short, straggly sunflowers grow back there. Still, it makes the most lovely place in the entire garden that much more lovely (:

3. Morning glory vines amassed around sunflower stalks!

4. Cosmos flowers grown taller than myself, some cabbages, echinacea and a few cucumber vines.

5. Tea party with picked mushrooms (non-edible, purely aesthetic)

6. Jude's mushroom arrangement. He LOVES to pick mushrooms and gift them to me like flowers (: The more he picks, the more they grow, and some I have noticed have started forming into rings! Very magical (: He must be friends with the faeries (:

rainy days and creativity

We've had a great many rainy days here lately (: I personally love the rain and feel super-creative when the days are blessed in this way. Growing up, I used the opportunity of a cozy day spent indoors to let my imagination flourish, to make things, sew and draw... Well, after shucking a big bunch of corn I made two cornhusk dolls! I've always wanted to do this and yet somehow never got around to it until just now! Jude LOVED them and took them on a journey outside immediately after they were done. He picked some mushrooms for them too (: Isabella made a doll too but put it in her room before I had a chance to take a photo...It turned out quite lovely of course (:

A friend of Bella's came over to play for the day and we spent a great deal of time drawing at the kitchen table..

And this is her drawing on printed sheet fabric. She did it with my fabric markers and promptly gifted it to her Grandma~Jude (:

I made one too! A bird (: I do plan on ironing it (-;

Here's Jude's! This little impromptu project actually came about because Isabella was inspired to make a quilt, so we started tracing/cutting out squares of fabric. Jude got rather excited and adamant that he wanted to help, so I gave him his own piece to work on. You can see that he worked very hard at tracing around the edge of the square, and then doodled all over the paper in behind!

These photos totally do NOT do this cool garland justice. I took them at night and the light is blech. Still, I wanted to share because I thought it was such an awesome idea~! Isabella knotted together a bunch of my fabric scraps, many of which were bound tp be thrown away because they really were too small to be put to much use, creating a banner.

We hung the banner up in her room, creating three swags across the ceiling and it is just so lovely (: The origami orbs were made by Jason years ago and hung in her bedroom in both California and now here in Ontario (:

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27 weeks pregnant

( Bella took these at our local 'Willowtree farm' a few days ago. She chose the head adornment too! )

Matilda the duck (:

Well...now we have, in our home and in our lives: five cats, one husky-dog, one rabbit, and a duck!

Jason found this pretty little lady on the side of the highway yesterday morning as he was driving to the college for an orientation seminar day for incoming professors. He saw a couple ducks squished on the road and then this lady sitting near them. He drove by and then turned back to rescue her; she would likely have been killed too if left there. He brought her home to me wrapped in his sweatshirt, quickly threw on some new clothes (yes, she pooped on him!) and then raced back to the college. I woke Isabella up (it was early!) and we set to finding her a safe place to rest. Mabel's crate from our cross-country plane journey was just perfect so we cleaned it up, threw some newspaper and grass in there and Matilda (that is the name Isabella has chosen for the duck) stayed in there for much of the morning and afternoon, until we took her out to the garden. She seems much happier out there. At first I thought she was a mallard but as it turns out, she is a domesticated farm duck that looks like a really small mallard. I clearly know very little about ducks but I have learned a lot in a very short time! I hope she is ok ~ we think that she was probably hit by a car too and suffering some internal trauma as she had a bit of blood coming out of her nostril this afternoon. We are doing our best to keep her hydrated, calm and safe while she heals, the poor thing. I hope she pulls through.

{{ this moment }}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. ~ inspired by Soule Mama

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New Origami sets!

I have added a few new origami sets to my shop!

Gorgeous cranes made from maps! These are offered in a set of 20..

Origami lanterns made from maps... These beauties come in a set of 25!

Lovely, aren't they? And they look so pretty when they're lit up (:

Lastly, there are these gorgeous multi-colored patterned cranes (:

They come in sets of 14... I love to make them into beautiful mobiles (:

Click here to see them all in the PipoDoll shop!

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