Scraps

I will be ringing in the new year turning these

into these

I will probably also work on settling my disagreement with Ada about how much snuggling a dog should do, and maybe, if Josh isn't swamped, I'll hang out at the hospital.  It won't be the most glamourous of New Year's Eves, but I think it will be quite satisfying.  I hope everyone has a happy and safe last day of 2011!

Christmas Joys Abound

As I sat down to write this post, I realized I didn't take any pictures of probably one of the coolest things I've ever made before I sent it off as a present.  Oops.  I feel sheepish.

Here are some things I made and remembered to photograph:

This bear is for my friend Susan out of part of an unfinished family heirloom quilt top.  I think he looks quite distinguished in his leather chair.

This is the fourth quilt made from Susan's mom's gardening shirts.  It's for her nephew, so now all her mom's grandkids have one.  My mom made quilts out of my Grandpa's shirts for all of my cousins and me a couple years ago.  I love mine so very much; so I was happy to be able to make these meaningful quilts for Susan.

I made this pillow from linen for Josh's mom.  We brought back two bags of pine needles from Maine so she could have a pillow and a supply of delicious smelling potpourri (is it potpourri when it's not made from flowers?) to put in it.  It's got an envelope-style back so she can refill it with fresh needles every once in a while.

I made this scalloped hat for our one year old niece, Josie.

I made this butterfly hat for our nearly five year old niece, Abi.

It was hard to see the butterfly, so I stuffed it to get a better picture.  It looks kind of creepy.  I'm assuming it will look much cuter on the head of an adorable five year old.

Josh painted these for the girls and they match the mugs we got their parents at the Saturday Market last Christmas.  Now they have a family set!

I also crocheted some stuffed snowmen wearing tiny scarves, but I neglected to take their picture as well.  Don't hold it against me - things are a little hectic around here!  Aside from scrambling to get all my projects finished, we've been planning a trip to Costa Rica in January.  Additionally, December is the busiest month of the year in the non-profit world because everyone feels extra generous.  This is a wonderful phenomenon, but makes for long work days for me.  Lastly, my long work days are nothing compared to Josh's.  He is in the middle of 28 days of work without a day off.  That includes overnight every Saturday (Yes, Christmas Eve.  Yes, New Year's Eve.)  But the end of December means we are halfway through residency.  That sounds pretty nice!

Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

I finished a quilt for baby Zander Ibanez last week.  I especially like his name because it both starts and ends with "Z."  That is pretty neat if you ask me.

His parents are our good friends whom we are always trying to convince to come to Portland.  Now that Oklahoma is having multiple earthquakes a day, maybe we've got a better shot.

They picked out some great looking dinosaur stuff for Zander's room, and I was excited to run with the colorful dino theme:

I discovered that making things look random takes a lot of effort. 

The backing makes me think of tropical islands, which makes me think of Lost, which makes me think of the Ibanezes 

I copied the dinos off the fabric to quilt onto the colored squares 

The brontosaurus only has three legs 

Congratulations, Ibanez family!

Things That Are Not Sewing

Umbrellas
Josh and I caught an episode of Free Agents the other day, which takes place in Portland.  I was sewing, so I didn't pay too close attention, but something stood out to me.  Free Agents is about people at an advertising firm, and in this episode they were trying to figure out how to sell umbrellas to men.  Because, apparently, umbrellas are not manly and so men in Portland won't buy them.  I think the real problem, though, would be selling an umbrella to any Oregonian at all!  Ride the train, look around the city, or take a walk and you'll see that the majority of the folks just tough it out with a raincoat, or some microfleece and a hat.  We snickered like natives in on the joke that TV doesn't know what it means to be an Oregonian.

Vacations
It's been a year and a half since our Europe trip and we still haven't put up any pictures on Facebook.  Oops.
We leave Friday for an epic East Coast Adventure.  We're spending a day in Hartford visiting friends and family, a week in a cabin in Maine hiking and rowing, five days in the Smokies backpacking, and a couple days in NC visiting friends.  We've been working hard over here.  I'm ready for a break.  I'm ready for fall.  This is going to be awesome.

Adele
I have a vocal crush on Adele.  I love to sing along with her songs.  Singing Rolling in the Deep is hard!  I have never heard a good cover of it.  I'm sorry to say that includes my listening to John Legend's version.  I thought if anyone could do it, it would be him.  They always fall apart at the chorus.  But so do I, so I totally understand.  No one can do it like she does.

Have a great two weeks, world! 

Frilliness

Ruffles are popular right now, so I don't have to hide that I am in a ruffle phase.  Luckily, I have friends expecting, or with brand new, little girls.  (Note: If you are Laurie and haven't received a box from me yet, wait a couple days before scrolling down)  So I started with a super-girly hot pink zebra ruffle-fest for Aleah:

 I don't think Ada gets how much fun ruffles are

And then I made a diaper bag, complete with pleats, for Allie (or I guess for Allie's mom):

Allie's grandpa picked out some special quilts for her, so I thought I'd try something a little different. It's the first time I've made a diaper bag, and the first time I've designed my own sewing pattern, so I started by making a practice bag out of tissue paper.  It worked, so I charged ahead.  Upon assembly, I decided to put a bird on it, in true Portlander fashion and in keeping with her mom's impeccable taste.  Once it was finished, I didn't want to smash it, so I may have picked an unnecessarily gigantic box in which to ship it.

I also received a ruffly apron from my sister-in-law Ruth Reese (who can meet all your photography needs), friend Marissa (with whom I could talk about sewing for hours), and niece Abi (who picked out the fabric).  It helped me get into the ruffly spirit as I worked on my projects.

Ready for Anything

We're having a baby shower for a coworker next week, and I offered to make a little, inexpensive, but unique present from our department to him.  So, I put together these (unauthorized) Red Cross onesies:

I have a plan to embroider "Be Prepared" on another, but I was unhappy with my machine's embroidery font.  So I may have to rethink that idea.  But, I'm pretty pumped about the way they've turned out so far!  I plan to go to the Sidewalk Sale on N Alberta on Saturday, so maybe I'll get some ideas on what to do with the other two.  There are some pretty creative folk around here!  Yet another reason I know I'm right where I belong.

I finished a couple gifts for some friends this week.  I'm waiting to post pictures at least until I get the packages in the mail.  I'm very excited about them though, it's so hard to wait to share them with the world!

Bright Hope

The other day, Josh and I were sewing (yes, both of us) while watching the classic She-Ra cartoon.  I was working on a quilt, Josh was re-sizing a fleece jacket (which is a manly sewing endeavor), and She-Ra was saving some miners from the Hoard.  We were all enjoying what is a perfectly acceptable evening in the Reese household, when She-Ra accomplished what Josh and I had not been able to for a couple weeks:  She-Ra named our boat!

She and her team were sailing off in a boat she had just purchased, and She-Ra declared in her noblest voice, "We shall call it The Bright Hope, in honor of our journey."  Josh and I decided that was exactly what, and exactly why, we would name our boat. And so, I give you our anniversary boat, The Bright Hope, in honor of our journey:

We took her out for her inaugural row on Saturday, and I discovered a side effect of naming the boat Bright Hope.  I spent most of the evening with the classic hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness stuck in my head.  You know, "...strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow..."  At least it's a lovely song!