Griffin is 2 months old

Happy 2 months to Griffin (aka Griffy or Griffybear - I'm sure he'll love that one someday)!!



I tried to post this yesterday but Blogger was down all day. Why??

And...he is currently getting really fidgety so this is going to be a shorty little post. Just wanted to share the cute pic and say Happy Weekend to you all.

Hugs, Devon
:o)

Made :: Griffin's Quilt

I could have titled this post: Things I made before life got really crazy. But I will be choose to be positive, haha. I'm spread a little thin today...too little sleep, a cranky and sick almost 3 year old, and an almost 2 month old who spit up nearly everything he ate today (twice). When I say spit up I don't mean your average spit up by the way. No sir. I'm talking quantity - splashing when it hits the floor and having to use thick baby blankets for burp cloths - this is life with little Griffy. I'll be happy when we're beyond this phase.

Quilt front

I had wanted to make a "real" quilt for some time and figured what better occasion than for Griffin's arrival. I love sewing but am not so great at it - working on that! But I know the basics of quilting and what I was looking for so in many ways it came together easily. I had a specific little stash of fabrics I'd picked up from Hart's over the months. I'm big on red, aqua, orange...and am happy to have most other colors come to play as well, just in smaller quantity. I also very much appreciate white as a background color.

Dark photo sorry - arranging fabrics on my felt wall

I cut 9"ish by 16"ish sized rectangles and sewed them together to make a generous crib size. It took one of Bird's naptimes. Then another naptime was spent cutting out the fabric for the back (LOVE the AMH flannels - so soft!) and the organic bamboo batting and basting it all together. I finished the quilting and binding the day after that. My kind of project - super quick and love the results. And Griffin is currently napping on it.

My hummingbird print from school days

Yummy mix of cotton & linen, backed in flannel

Happy with my first (super simple) quilt!

I will definitely keep quilting! It's super gratifying to make your own objects of cozy & color. Next time I may try something more technical and would of course love to use my own fabrics. Griffin's quilt has just one of mine - a screenprint of hummingbirds from my days at RISD.

Griffy approves

Have you tried quilting? What's the best part for you? Picking out fabrics? (mine is!)

Hugs, Devon

Home Improvement :: Vintage Train Rack

Happy (day after) Mama's Day! We enjoyed a homemade (by Jared) breakfast of cinnamon rolls and eggs and some mighty fine mimosas. I got in a little more gardening and a trip to lowe's for some fun additions into the yard (black jack dwarf fig tree for one). I took Griffin with me as Jared was trying to catch a little nap and Bird was taking hers. Unfortunately I had to walk around the store for 45 min to get Griffin to settle into the sling. Then I realized I had forgotten my phone. After picking up some plants I was ready to go but of course Griffy was peacefully sleeping and I had to stick him in the car again (just like his sister when she was a babe, he's not a fan of car rides). Thankfully no one missed me at home (do you feel naked w/o your phone? I sure do!).



Jared managed to get our ebay find up on the wall in the kitchen. We really like it! It's a vintage train rack from the New South Wales Railway. We used to hang our pots on an adjacent wall and while they looked cool they were in the way and Jared often banged his shoulders against them while passing. I don't know why we didn't think of this spot before but it feels good and look, there's room for more pots! :o) Have to tell my parents...they got the other ones for us in France at a thrift store. We had so much fun at those thrift stores!





Beep beep beep...!! Dinner's ready ~ time for the frenzy to begin. I've got to get Bird fed and bathed so I can feel good about leaving the kids with Jared while I jet out to Zumba :o)

Hugs, Devon

ps: this is what was waiting for me on the counter on Mother's Day. Such sweetness.

May Garden

Come check out a bit of our garden!

It's totally blooming & not yet dried from the coming hot days. My descriptions are typed below the photos (is there a general rule on that?).



Be still my heart...love these two together...it took a couple years for the passionflower vines to meander over to the cecile brunner roses.



Grow corn - it's fun! That's what everyone keeps telling me so I went ahead and am doing so this year. When does the fun start? Sorry, snarky tired comment, ha ;o) I'm assuming its in the speed at which corn grows and the reward of perfect sweet ears of corn to steam or grill then eat with butter & salt - yum!



I may be in the minority but I'm loving this crazy mash of color and form!



If you love purple this should really do it for you.



This one really does it for me personally.



New Zealand wind grass - wild and lovely!



Left side of the front garden - we bucked neighborhood tradition and have no (mowable) grass. I assume we save on water as well as time. Though I'd love a little patch in the backyard. Maybe someday.



Hot Lips salvia - dontcha love a name like that?



Drowning in irises...it's a sickness. I love all my pretties.



Sweet delicious flax - the backbone of the garden.



Right side of the front garden. Yes, we live next to a pink and turquoise house. Jealous right?



Bird's touch - pinwheel in the forsythia and daahlias.

Hope that was fun eye candy for any plant and flower lovers :o) Hoping to get more gardening on this weekend too.

Hugs and Happy Mother's Day to all you mamas out there!
Devon

Tired

TGIF....I've got next to zero energy but the day's not over yet. Hoping Bird will surprise me with rays of sunshine after waking from nap - wouldn't be typical! I'd love a glass of wine and a nap myself. I forgot to get a present for the birthday party we're going to tomorrow. Griffin is sleeping on my chest. There are birds singing in our orange tree. There's 17 bean stew and a ham bone simmering in the crock pot. I'm wearing my favorite skirt that Bird thinks is hers. I got my Cintiq tablet set up inside the house (holy crazy cables!) because it's too hard to get out to the studio. I have no motivation today to fire it up. That's what's floating around my brain. How are you on this lovely Friday? Plans for the weekend ?

Hugs, Devon

Spring planting

It's 87 degrees today! Sooo lovely! I'm thrilled I didn't take the advice of many and went ahead and planted my tomatoes (and everything else) back in early April. I really only did so because I had a window of time...then got lucky we were done with cold nights. So much time in the ground so far means I'll have tomatoes by July instead of August (and cherry tomatoes much sooner).

Last weekend I put in corn, sugar snaps, a french melon, and lots of herbs like an especially beautiful pineapple sage - yum!

This past week I read a super inspiring post on Apartment Therapy that featured Amy Butler's home. She mentioned gardening is as much a passion for her as her design work. I happily feel the same way and am grateful for that since it's much easier these days to spend moments outside pulling weeds and planting heucheras than it is to hole up in my studio with my laptop and tablet. That time will come again...

Speaking of time - I have run out of it :o)

hugs, Devon

Bird's room WIP

I posted earlier that we've been working on Bird's room to prep for Griffin to share the space with her in a few months. If she could have it her way it would have been yesterday! Bird is convinced Griffin is her own personal baby.

I took a whirlwind trip to ikea with Grif in my ergo carrier (and Bird at home, whew!) and picked up a bookcase, art table and extra chair, and a few accessories like a clip on light and boxes for markers and crayons.



While I've really enjoyed the lilac/red/pink/orange color scheme of the room I've been fairly over it for last year. And it's pretty girly - I think a little too girly for a boygirl shared room. In my crazy schemes where I imagine I have hours and hours of time and very few responsibilities I would paint the room a light airy aqua shade and paint over certain parts of the mural - phasing out the lavender and bringing in more red, orange, and shades of aqua and celadon. We'll see what kind of baby Griffin turns out to be...maybe he'll be content to watch me paint? Ha...not getting my hopes up.



See that second piece of molding up there? Above the picture rail molding Jared mounted a train track and actually got his HO scale train to run on it! It's awesome and runs around the entire room.



Toys toys toys - Craig's List find (ikea piece) to hold it all.



Our new favorite place to do "everything" - the oilcloth is working out like a dream.



Windsee for Griffin that Bird immediately stole.

Hope you enjoyed the photo tour of Bird's space...this may be the final version of her room before it changes again in a few months. If there was nothing to alter, redo, tweak, etc - life would be boring :o)

Hugs, Devon