my pink life, mi vida rosada

I made a baby hat!  I used the Purl Soho Winter Baby Bonnet pattern, but instead of using two fabrics, only used cashmere (from an old sweater!) and sewed it with french seams.  I did add a little bit of woven cotton lining to the ties, just to help keep them from over stretching. And the baby likes his hat!  Any time he sees it sitting out, he tries to reach for it.  And after he reaches for it, he signs "please" and starts to get loud until I help him put it on.  I also made two pairs of mittens!  The girls are over the moon with them -- the oldest keeps telling me, "Thank you for thinking of me and making these for me!"  It is the sweetest.  And I also have worked my way through the mending pile.  I have re-gained two blouses.  The girls have re-gained two pairs of bloomers. The baby has a sleep sack that is no longer falling apart.  Two lovely church (quiet) toys can be added back into the church-toy rotation.  ...

It is so hard to not feel guilty for using the few hours of kid-free time I have each week not to take care of the house!  I hope that it feels more normal with more practice. This week, I've been working on "pixie hats" for my little ones. Partial success. One hat is significantly smaller than the other. I'm not entirely sure what went wrong....Other than user error (mine, obviously). I made a template, tried it on the girls, wrote down some measurements to change it when I used the *real* fabric, and then....Started in on the pink hat.  Cut into the too-small-for-me-now pink sweater.  Didn't actually change the measurements from the template to make the hat bigger for my pink-loving girl. It fits her, barely.  It has much less neck coverage than I had been hoping for. She may only be able to wear it this year.  At age 5.5, she may only *want* to wear it this year. Take two: for my green loving girl. I measured her head. I measured her head with ...

We'll see if it works! I'm starting the year off with the goal to "finish all the things." Some of the "rules" or "guidelines" I'm trying to work from are: 1. Finish what you've started.  Translation: no totally new projects, no totally new supply purchases.  I have some very small projects that have been waiting a very long time with no progress.  I'm going to try to alternate between small, easy to finish projects and big, long term, take lots of small steps forward projects.  Crafty projects, large and small, are tacked up on a pin board in the project room; as they are finished, the little project papers are moved to the bottom of the board. 2. No scrolling the web in bed.  Translation: It's fine to read a book or work a crossword puzzle (even looking up the pop-culture answers on the phone) but no facebook, no instagram, no kitchn, no news sites, etc.  No random browsing just because it is available when it is time to g...

Here we are, another year beginning.... Goals: finish all the things. No really, get things from the "sort of started" or "almost done" phase into the "finished, crossed off the list" category. Put down the phone, stop scrolling the news and social media, and get the things done. When that third baby came along, I left my teaching job, and have been staying "at home" to enjoy the time with the little ones, take care of the house, have an "easier" time with logistics, etc.  It has been wonderful and fun and I've enjoyed it thoroughly.  Also, it has made me feel crazy how little I have been able to accomplish of my own goals and projects around the house. So this year, 2019, through about May, when the littlest littles stop going to nursery school, my goal is to finish all the things. In order to accomplish this, I'm planning to stop using my "free" mornings to tend to the house, and start using my "free...