I'm a winner, you're a winner. Or is it wiener?

Sweet, kind Emily nominated me for a blog award. Emily churns out quilts at a rate I don't even have time to dream of. She makes beautiful, inspiring things.



Here are the rules:
1. Thank the person who gave you the award
2. Paste the award on your blog
3. Link the person who nominated you
4. Tell 7 interesting things about yourself
5. Nominate 7 blogs
6. Post links to those 7 blogs

7 things about me:

1. I adore cats. Everything about cats. But I don't decorate my house with cat objects.

2. I am a really picky eater. Being pregnant and not feeling well makes it really hard to eat.

3. I really want a tail, like a cat or a monkey has. But only if everyone has one and not just me.

4. I think that organizing things is the most fun ever. Like closets, laundry rooms, etc. Anything.

5. I used to be heavily in debt and loved to buy things -- anything at all. Money was no object -- it wasn't money anyway, but a credit card, right? Once I buckled down to pay it all off, I became a serious cheapskate. It's stuck with me.

6. I hate the winter and constantly worry about homeless people and cold animals. Cows, puppies, birds, all of them.

7. When I was 3, I rolled down an airplane window and touched a cloud. Yes, I did. I swear.

Seven blogs I like (besides Emily's):

1. Chickenbone Jones (Amy) - boy, Amy has a way of telling any old story in a hilarious way. Lately, though, it got a bit sad when her little dog became paralyzed right after she brought her new daughter home from the hospital.

2. All Things G&D - Inspiring home decor and a pregnancy blog that came at just the right time. She's just adorable, this girl.

3. Hip Stitch - A local fabric shop run by lovely and inspiring ladies.

4. Living and Knitting on a Maine Island (Marissa) - Marissa lives on a tiny Maine island that was recently featured on Oprah. It has a post office, but no full-time stores or restaurants. I find it fascinating.

5. Kerry Litka|Small Things Considered - She had me at "Freakishly Small Since 1976"

6. Quelle Erqsome - I'm fascinated by her life in England. Even though I believe she's from Canada, I still read her blog posts in a British accent. If I ever met her, I might be confused.

7. Attack of the Redneck Mommy - This woman is just hilarious. A little crass, so be forewarned if you've got a stick up your buttocks.

Just the thing to cheer me up

Not that I needed cheering, though I did have a massive headache today. This week's post on the Warehouse Fabrics Inc. blog was how to make this pleated handbag.



I love the fabric, and it made me feel happy using it. In addition to a full tutorial on making the bag, I also broke out separate tutorials on making a non-turn handbag strap and inserting magnetic snaps. I also have included PDFs of the pattern pieces, though I nearly pulled my hair out trying to get everything working right so they printed properly. I think I have it figured out now.

(A full list of my tutorials and projects for the site can be found here.)

Bye-bye, flat stomach

So here goes my waistline. That's OK. It's to be expected with pregnancy, and actually, it's kind of nice not having to suck my stomach in. I've always had a pretty flat stomach and small waist, and focused most of my body image issues on my butt and thighs. Now, I must say, I feel like my butt and thighs hardly bother me at all!

But what do you do around (for me) month 13-14 weeks when your regular pants are just a bit too snug in the waist but you're way too small for maternity clothes? You could wear pants several sizes too big, but are they really going to be flattering?

I was wondering just this thing when the heavens opened, light shone down, angels sang and the Lord brought me Old Navy. Old Navy and its "Real Waist" line of maternity pants.

Here's the thing: They are otherwise normal, stylish pants that have a secret adjustable waist. In theory, one pair could take you from those early days barely showing to the end of your pregnancy. I say "in theory" because, chances are, my butt will expand and need bigger pants. I can cross my fingers, but let's be realistic. I also got Real Waist pants in khaki and black dress pants, which are sort of low-rise flare pants.

These low-rise jeans are surprisingly comfortable. On the inside waist, there is a piece of elastic that runs through and is exposed on either side. The elastic has numerous buttonholes, and the jeans have a button. You just adjust to your current size. Right now, they're adjusted small, so the waist looks a bit bunchy, but they really stay up comfortably - I'm not constantly adjusting them like I usually do with my normal jeans - and my shirt covers the top of them anyway.

Extra benefits: When I bought them, they were $10 online on sale. And I fit into a size 2. I bought regular pants at Old Navy the other day and had to get a 6, which I had never fit into, but my belly was a bit rounder than usual. Nothing makes an expanding pregnant woman feel better than a size 2 label, realistic or not.

My life

In this post, I want to address a couple of things. First, what is this blog about? Well, it's kind of evolved from having no point whatsoever to focusing on my former handbag and accessory business, Burst of Happiness, to focusing on my personal crafts/sewing/pattern making/etc.

As you know, sometimes I write about things I've made, sometimes I write about things I observe or life in general. Sometimes it's boring, sometimes it's funny. Somehow, a few of you stick with me no matter what. I appreciate that.

Where am I going with this? Well, as you now know, I'm pregnant. And I think that some of you don't visit my blog to hear about baby stuff. Maybe you want to see sewing projects, or who knows what. The sewing projects have been more sparse since I've been feeling rather lousy, though I'm starting to feel better now.

Some of you may not really care what I write about; you just think I'm fantastic. Thanks for that! OK, maybe not. But the point is that I see this blog as just being about whatever I'm doing. And what I'm doing is making a small human, so this could frequently be the topic du jour around here for a while.

I'll definitely be squeezing some other stuff in. I have some knitting projects I'm finally finishing up, and I always have my weekly sewing projects for the Warehouse Fabrics Inc. blog that I'll share.

For now, I'm going to make you look at my baby. And my uterus. I realize that many people may not like this kind of thing.
This is "Gummy" at 13 weeks. I like to think Gummy is smiling in this picture.

Things that suck about pregnancy

Here's what I think: I think that mothers have been in cahoots to keep many of the secrets of pregnancy from non-mothers, just to be mean. Just so that we are tricked into going through the same misery. My theory is somewhat flawed because I have no motive for such cruelty; I actually believe women are pretty good people. But all I ever used to hear is how great pregnancy is. Then, after I am pregnant, everyone is suddenly acknowledging the misery. Interesting.

I just want to know how I got to be 35 and never had any clue about so many of these things. I now want to share with the world the suckiness of my first trimester. It may be that I want to whine now that my pregnancy is no longer a secret. But more than that, I just think people deserve to know.

I'd like to start by saying that in my "normal life" I am totally healthy and free of aches and pains. I almost never get sick. As a matter of fact, the only real ailment I have is headaches, but even those mostly went away after I replenished my vitamin D levels. So please understand that I'm not a negative person or a sickly person. I'm in great health and I'm in good shape. Sometimes great shape, sometimes good shape, but I'm never overweight or anything.

But since getting pregnant, these are some of the joys I've discovered:

1. Morning sickness: I had it better than most people - just two weeks and no barfing. But IT WAS AWFUL.


2. Major, debilitating headaches: In a way, it's like, "what else is new?" I mean, I've always had headaches, but now I get three-day headaches and I can't really take anything but regular strength Tylenol. Any experienced headache sufferer laughs at regular strength Tylenol. It's about as effective on a debilitating headache as a Tic-Tac.


3. Sciatic nerve inflammation: In my old, Jewish lady voice, "Oy vey, my sciatica is acting up again."


4. Muscle pain: I woke up the other day and felt like I'd run a marathon. My legs were so sore, I walked like a 95-year-old. Getting up the stairs took forever. And I didn't not do anything strenuous the day before. Actually, I have not done anything strenuous in weeks ... see No. 5.


5. EXHAUSTION LIKE I HAVE NEVER KNOWN: This one deserves all caps. If you've never been pregnant but have heard that one may be tired during this time, well, you have no idea. You cannot grasp the meaning of tired until you spend three months creating a placenta. For me: get up after sleeping for 10 hours, eat breakfast, wash the dishes, check my e-mail, return to bed for a nap before work.


6. Food Aversions: Please don't ever show me a vegetable again.


7. Weird Pelvic Pains That Are Apparently Normal But Scare the Crap Out of You Every Time Anyway: I guess the uterus has to stretch and everything, but you still think "Miscarriage!" at each pang.


8. Ridiculous Emotions: I cry at everything. Everything. "Desperate Housewives," commercials, a billboard for a fertility clinic that shows one set of hands handing a baby to another set of hands. "It's a Wonderful Life," which I can't even stand but am forced to watch by my husband every year. Even a news story at work about some people who beat their 3-month-old to oblivion for "entertainment." Ok, that one deserved some tears, but usually I'm pretty good at not crying at my desk when reading horrible news stories. It's my job, after all, to read horrible news stories.


9. Bloating: From the moment I conceived, my belly got big and puffy. I was sure everyone at work was playing "Is she fat or pregnant," but after I told them, nobody seemed to have had any clue. Or at least they were polite enough not to say, "Ohhhh. I was wondering why you looked so dumpy and plumpy."


10. Digestive Issues: I won't go into detail, lest my mother torture me with prunes as she did when I was a kid. A friend told me yesterday that a pregnant friend of hers once said, "Nobody told me I wouldn't shit for 9 months!" That really says it all, people.


11. Boobs: OK, so they got bigger, and that was cool, but you know when you have breast tenderness right before your period? Imagine that times 10,000 and for three straight months or more. My cat has a real knack for using my chest as a thoroughfare when I'm sleeping.

Before this, I always thought, "If I'm ever pregnant, I will eat super-healthy and exercise every day. Because that's what a good mother-to-be does."

Now I know what a complete idiot I was. Between nausea and food aversions, you're lucky to eat at all, and thanks to the exhaustion, going upstairs was about all the exercise I could handle in a day and still make it though work that evening.

By the grace of God, or good genetics, I only gained 1.5 pounds in the first trimester. It was certainly no thanks to any effort I put in. I basically had to eat whatever appetized me at the moment. Mostly I find it unfortunate to have to deal with food at all, because even post-morning sickness, I generally don't find that food sounds very good. I don't really feel normal hunger, I just feel sort of sick when it's time to eat. Like my blood sugar dropped and I'm sort of headachey, maybe nauseated, and nothing sounds good.

Oh, but if you think this sounds bad, or that childbirth sounds bad, I hear that those are a fun day at the park compared to breast-feeding.

Baby on board

I have some big news. My three loyal readers may be wondering where the heck I've been the past few months. You were probably waiting on the edge of your seat for my latest creative endeavor and terrible photographs documenting it. Am I right?

But I let you down, again and again.

Well, here's why: I'm pregnant. And since I'm really, really, really old (according to my doctor, who left off all the "reallys," but I like to exaggerate)(I'll be 36 in a month)(That just doesn't seem that old to me). Darn. I lost my train of thought with all those tangents. Oh yeah -- since I'm old, I was just a little over-nervous about making it safely through the first trimester. I just know so many people who have miscarried in those first months. I am now 13 weeks along and had my second OB visit today, so I'm ready to share the news.

What does this have to do with blogging? A few things:

1. I've felt like complete and utter shit for 8 weeks and haven't had the energy or motivation to do any sewing beyond what I do for the Warehouse Fabrics Inc. blog each week.

2. I didn't know how to discuss my life without bringing up the baby. Because my life is just never going to be the same again, and it's a really big deal.

So there you go. I can hardly believe it! I was honestly surprised by the whole thing -- as surprised as you can get. I'm not sure why, since we stopped using birth control last January. But I guess I just really felt in my heart that we would not be parents (and I was OK with that), and so I put it out of my mind and never thought about it. And then, 10 months later ... HELLO!

And now, be glad you did not know until three months in, because you will probably hear way too much about my uterus and fetus and impending motherhood up until July. I apologize in advance.

Cute but itchy

The other day I promised you a project. I've been a bit slow on projects lately. I cut out this jacket months ago and just finally got around to sewing it. It actually came together in no time.



It's Simplicity 3631 made with a 100% (scratchy) wool from Joann's that I got for 50% off.



My skin cannot tolerate wool at all (which makes my snotty, no-synthetic-yarn knitting hobby tough, as that is mostly what I knit with), so I had to find a top that would not let the collar of this jacket touch me. So I did what every person who needs a wardrobe staple for next to free does: I went to Kohl's. I bought a lightweight brown turtleneck T-shirt, and I can still feel the wool through the top where it's pushed against my skin, like under the belt.



I took these pictures at midnight; I won't really be wearing this with gray pants.



The only issue I had was with the belt. I found it to be too short. And with interfacing, extremely stiff. I had just enough fabric to recut the belt longer and left off the interfacing. It's much better now.



OK, fine. I had one other issue. I sewed two left sleeves. Oh, I tried, of course, to convince myself that it wouldn't matter if I put one on backwards, but I'm not that stupid. So I had to rip out the (very wide) hem and two sleeve side seams and start over. Bad, but not as bad as the time I knitted two left fingerless mitts.

Beautiful bags

There's an awesome giveaway on Today's Give Away, and I really want to win this bag. Blogging about it is one of my entries, and you get to gaze at this beautiful bag. If you haven't checked out this site, you most definitely should!

Really, Mark?

Husband-style folding:




Wife-style folding, same linens:

A garage in five minutes or less

My brother lives in rural Maine and built his house (with help) from scratch. Now, years later, he has added a garage that is even bigger than his house.

He did a time-lapse video that shows the whole thing from nothing to finished -- the video takes 5 minutes and is actually pretty darn cool to watch.



I don't know if Marissa can vouch for this, but he always says that in Maine, when your house gets old, you just build a new one next door. And leave the old one there. Actually, when I visited, I saw a bit of evidence of that. Somewhat unrelated but entertaining.

Pretty pieced pillows

Alright, so I've been a really awful blogger lately. Everyone else had a year-end wrap-up of projects and goals for the next year, but not me. I suck.

I have things to share and I'll get around to them sometime in the coming week, and then you'll understand why I've been a poop-head.

For now, I have this Warehouse Fabrics Inc. post I did on throw pillows, and any minute now I'll have a cute, new garment to show you. So click away on the picture below and join me over there.

Albuquerque snowstorm

We might have a very rare chance at a white Christmas this year, thanks to El Nino. Considering it's not sticking, though, I'm not so sure.

I loved this dandelion





Oh, well. We don't know how to drive in snow anyway.

(And in case you might think we NEVER get "real" snow, check out this doozy a few years ago, 12/29/06 -- happened just AFTER Christmas)

Finally finished

In October, a friend at work commissioned me to make a shawl for his mom for Christmas. He offered to pay, but really, it took so many hours that it would have cost $700. Or $1,000. I started it Oct. 31 and finished it Dec. 15, working on it about two hours a day almost every day. Seriously. I'm not a slow knitter, but it sure takes me a while to finish projects. And I get very impatient and bored with things. And let me say for the record, I will not be doing any more requests for anyone.



I had motivation, though, because I had a deadline. I did it, and I think it came out beautiful.



The pattern is a vintage pattern called the Adagio shawl. If you're on Ravelry, you can see my link here, and find your way to the pattern.



I used Knit Picks City Tweed dk yarn, about 9.5 balls of it. It's a beautiful, soft tweed. I used the colorway Orca.



Notes:
I used size 7 needles, but found it to be too tight despite having knit a swatch. It stretched nicely upon blocking, though. I did initially have trouble with the k3tog at the beginning, because it was too tight to get the needle into three stitches at once. I panicked, but nobody else seemed to mention this problem on Ravelry. I found a substitute stitch that makes the same effect (SSK, then pass that stitch to left needle, pass third stitch over it and off, then pass stitch back to right needle.), though it was much more time consuming. After a few rows, however, the fabric loosened up and I was easily able to k3tog.

Funky elf stockings

This week, my post on Warehouse Fabrics Inc.'s blog is about these funky, super-cute elf stockings in fun fabrics that give your Christmas decor a little edge.



I also included a few notes on applique, in case you're intimidated.
(Don't be :) )

Another jersey top

I loved my first gray jersey top made from Burda 7866 so much that I decided to make another one in a more interesting print. For some reason, I got most of the way done weeks ago and then stopped. I finally finished it up today. I definitely seemed to have a day of bad luck with this, which may be why I set it aside. While snipping thread ends, I accidentally snipped a small hole right in the middle of the fabric. And at one point, while top stitching the neck edge, the machine tried to suck in the fabric and tore it when I pulled it out. There were other mistakes I made, too, that slowed down the process, but it's cute and wearable. And most of all, it's finished.

Blocking mats and my love of all things dry

I ordered these blocking mats from knitpicks recently and am using them for the first time. Unfortunately, they are not as big as I expected. I hope to get another set for Christmas.



I am blocking the Adagio shawl I'm making for a friend, and I will have to do it in two sections because I ran out of mat. But my shawl is almost finished -- I just have to complete the collar and sew it on.

****added****

I had wanted to talk about the blocking mats a little bit when I posted this before, but at the moment, I really wanted to take a nap, so I seemed to forget about half of the intended post.

Anyway, these blocking mats are awesome. They are each 12 inches square and fit together like puzzle pieces so you can make whatever size and shape you need. They are made of foam so you can pin easily to them.

I also bought the blocking pins at the same site, which are easier to use than straight pins, in my opinion. You dampen your knitting project with a spray bottle on one side, put that side face down and start pinning to your desired measurements (we're talking about wool here, not synthetics. Wool has a memory that allows you to shape it while it's wet). Then, after it's pinned, spray down the exposed side really well and let it dry. If you live in the desert southwest, like I do, it dries in about five minutes and you're on your merry way. I sort of wonder how people deal with humidity, to tell you the truth!

I am fully adapted to low humidity, so even dry skin rarely gets ahold of me. You don't get as much mold and mildew, and you never see rust around here. The summers are hot ... "but it's a dry heat," so it doesn't bother you. And in the winters, HARDLY ANY SNOW! Yay! You never get those days where the air is so heavy and wet that you can't breathe. That's my plug for arid climates. I know it has nothing much to do with knitting, but tangents are my thing.

Dogs need warmth, too

Some friends of Mark's like to hunt and have three beautiful hunting dogs. Me, I'm not very outdoorsy, and I'm more of a cat person.

But they needed a hunting vest whipped up for their dog. It wasn't an easy project, and it didn't fit the way I wanted it to, but it felt sort of "Project Runway"-ish.



The man wanted it made out of "tin cloth," which is a densely woven canvas treated with wax (not so good for a sewing machine, really. Especially one that I just spent $60 to have serviced a week before). He wanted it lined with wool, but not too thick. It's purpose is both warmth and to repel stickers, so it needed to fit snugly around her front legs.



Thankfully, he had a little vest made of some sort of foam material that fit her like a glove, so I was able to work from that to make a pattern. The tin cloth he provided was actually in the form of human chaps, so I had to cut it up and "make it work." I could totally hear Tim Gunn sending inspiration my way.



One of the chaps was brand new, but the others were really dirty and used. So I got most of my pattern pieces from the clean one, but had to use some of the dirty. I turned the dirty part to the inside, so it looks pretty good.



The wool lining I got at Joann's on sale for $9.99. I wanted to make a skirt out of it for ME.



Hope it keeps you warm, Alley! Sorry I didn't get photos on the pup.

Luxe, 2-tier Christmas tree skirt

I know, nobody probably reads this blog anymore. I have been so busy and not feeling particularly great, either. My lack of posting is pathetic.

But I do have this fancy-pants Christmas tree skirt to show you. I made it for the Warehouse Fabrics Inc. blog.



It's made from two satiny, flocked, wine-colored fabrics that are very pretty together, and it's fully reversible, so if your cat barfs on it, just flip it over! Go check it out, and leave me a comment when you stop by.

Go green (jacket)

I recently made this jacket for the Warehouse Fabrics Inc. blog. Check it out for more information. It was time-consuming, but not necessarily difficult. It's lined with a white, satiny lining and has buttons I covered out of the same fabric.

The long-suffering eucalyptus

This poor eucalyptus. It's always forced to wear something or another, like this towel that my husband could not carry up the stairs but had to throw.



You all recall the undies, don't you?