Yule Bonfire Party

Our friend Wendy Hill had a bonfire solstice party at her place in Johnson Creek on Friday. Most everyone got into the spirit with costumes and yummy food. I borrowed a medieval costume (thanks Pixie!!) and Rowan was an elf. Robert was a yule log ( see picture) It was a windy night for the bonfire, so we hid from the smoke inside and drank wassail and visited. It was great to visit with Ann and Flame and Ann was so sweet to bring me a bag of adorable baby clothes she thrifted. There were TWO boars heads!!! A ham that Wendy and Pete decorated to resemble a boar was really funny- it got kind of schlumpy in the oven, but the tusks and the marble eyes gave it a realistic touch and I made a boars head cake ( it wasn't cut because of all the other food, so I'm bringing it to christmas eve)
We leave for New Orleans on Christmas day- I hope Rowan is a good traveler!

Holiday Craftacular

This beautiful picture of Rowan was taken by my friend Sam with his new digital camera- I am so in love with this picture, and there are so many more good ones on the disk he gave me.

My party last weekend was great fun. We had snacks and made felt crafts. Robert played dj with old christmas records.
Pixie made christmas ornaments
Angela made a needle book with an octopus on it
Alicia made "day of the dead" baby shoes
Kate made baby shoes and Jeremy made a penguin bag for Kate
Leah made felt bacon christmas ornaments and Kerry recovered from celebrating his graduation
Shelly made a christmas card with a tree
I worked on baby shoes for Amy Arnold's son Solvin
Stacy knit and talked about Santa's love life
I am having another one of these parties soon... and I'm considering a birthday party this year ( my first sice age 11)- maybe at the new New Orleans restaurant on Willy st.

New applique jumper

I've been working on our new kids clothing line. Here Rowan is wearing a prototype cotton corduroy jumper with a velvet kitty applique. I made a trapdoor seat instead of a snap crotch. It looks cute from the back with the button flap!

See the new baby pictures here! http://www.shutterfly.com/view/pictures.jsp

Toes discovered!

Intrepid infant explorer Rowan has discovered his toes. A new source of amusement, and as close as the end of his foot! New body parts are being discovered daily in our household. Other hand- great for holding, knee- also great for holding, ears- fun to fold over and pull on, and of course...mouth- great for tasting anything within drooling range.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a lovely time on Thanksgiving visiting family. I spent the morning trying to bake a complicated cake called the "Chocolate City" cake (with nuts on top...get it?). Robert found the recipe in the New Orleans newspaper. I spent so long on it that we could only stop at Kurt's for a short time before heading out to Milwaukee. Here's a cute picture of Rowan getting some sugar from his aunt Sharon at Marcia's house. Note the festive fall bib I made him to wear! We all decided at dinner to draw names for Christmas gifts- each person only has to buy one gift-I am glad about this because it means less hassle. This friday is open studios at Winnebago studios- I dropped the ball on doing publicity , so I hope we have a good turnout. Try the cake recipe- it was yummy! I used coffee liquour instead of rum.

Here's a link to a video I took of Rowan swimmimg with Robert last weekend.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1294746203695545521&hl=en

Ornaments and Adornments show

My prototypes of the childrens eskimo coats are done ( I made 3) and we'll see what reception they get this weekend at the Ornaments and Adornments show at the Milwaukee art museum. I also made a dozen bibs with appliques and a few pair of baby shoes.


Rowan has rolled on his side a few times now- here comes trouble! And his new trick is sticking out his tongue ala Gene Simmons.

Chicken Waste

We found this memo taped to the St. Vinnie's donation box
The mind boggles......

SnOw DaY!!

A yukky first snow of the winter today! A good time for our playgroup to meet indoors. Rowan is enjoying a few new toys given to us by friends- a swing chair ( a big hit ...it conked him out on first use, see picture) and a very cute and portable play gym. The gym has some hanging animal toys and a mirror. He is most fond of chewing on the giraffe's hoofs and batting the elephant. In this picture he's wearing an outfit from France that Robert got on ebay (he's been combing ebay for european baby clothes at bargain prices)

Bumbo seat!

We are doing pretty good at being "non-consumerist" in our household- but... We just found a baby item we HAD to have!
The useful and hilarious Bumbo seat
Rowan looks so shocked at being able to sit up at 3m.

wee sweater vest now complete!

I just finished the details on a little sweater vest with a fair isle motif. It looks very British Isles I think! Now Rowan needs tweed trousers and a flat cap to make the outfit.
The yarn I used for this project is some I trashpicked in Maple Bluff- a haul that yeilded a ton of cool sewing stuff. It still has a touch of "old lady smell" about it - I will need to wash it with some Eucolan wool wash.

Halloween

I made Rowan a pirate outfit while recovering from that stupid surgery.I'm really proud of the little felt jolly rodger booties- I think I might start making those to sell!
Robert, the baby and I attended a Halloween party at Syntropy co-op Saturday and then a childrens party at Shelly's on Sunday . We also took him out and about in costume to the delight of all...
Rowan is now starting to roll onto his side a bit ( he does this when very worked up) and he will happily chew on his hand. He also will "play" with toys by batting them about.