Pookie is feeling just a tad bit better. She's not entirely happy about her stomach-pleasing, strict diet of juice and crackers, but it's working. I must say I will be glad when she can eat real food as well...if only because she keeps eating her crackers in my bed and now there are crumbs all throughout it. If you've ever slept in a bed with cracker crumbs you know how very unpleasant my last couple of nights have been... Anything to make you happy and healthy though little Pookie!

So with wellness on the way I did manage to get in a little crafting last night while the girls were fast asleep. I pulled the yellow body of a bird that had been in my "I'm still thinking what to do with this pile" and put together this little lady...

She's hiding among the similarly colored flowers. Now isn't that a bright and cheery sight?!

I haven't put any legs on her yet as I think she might look best on a perch of some kind. I've been begging, begging, begging my husband to try making a bird cage for me and don't you think she'd look just swell swinging away in one of those? Hmm, I think I will just have to beg some more!

Oh my! what a long, hard weekend! Poor Pookie's little illness became a full blown stomach flu on Friday. Our happy, bright eyed, active Pookie was listless and sad--not even her favorite show, "Curious George," could bring about a smile. Just today she has started to feel a bit better, so hopefully good health is just around the corner! Oh, and thankfully little Fig has not been sick at all--how this has happened I will never know, but thank goodness!

So now that everyone is starting to get a better, I can steal a moment to finally share with you some of the little guys and girls that I've been busy making. It's taken me two weeks, but at last I have four little birds with legs! At some point I'm going to take some real pictures of them and put them in the shop.

I really love the way they look, especially when they're standing on the window sill...

they look like they're just anxiously waiting for the snow and cold to go away...

so they can hop outdoors and fly in the warm spring breezes.

Not too much longer little birds...

I hope!

Yes, here's hoping for a bit warmer weather and a happy, healthy family sometime very, very soon!

Sadly most everyone here is sick...or teething. The girls have been either extremely upset or bordering on cranky thanks to sore gums and perhaps a little cold as well. My husband has a cold. Me, I'm okay, but I'm awfully afraid I'll be next!

I spent the girls' nap time cutting out one of my Vintage Vogue patterns and oh what a lot of work! I only managed to get two out of the eight pattern pieces cut out--the slippery fabric and small work space made it impossible to work quickly. I have a feeling that this dress is going to be a long time in the making...

Later today, while my husband and Fig were napping, Pookie and I started cleaning her and Fig's bedroom. It was a mess and desperatley needed cleaning! As we were cleaning Pookie pulled out her ballet slippers and wanted them on, next she wanted her tutu on, and then there was Pookie dancing and leaping. Of course I had to join in on the fun! I took a picture while she was having a quiet moment:


Pookie and I never did finish cleaning the girls' bedroom, but we sure had a great Mother-Daughter bonding moment. Sometimes a clean room isn't all that important...

Congratulations to my husband--at noon today he became an Attorney at Law! I can't even begin to tell you how proud I am of him! He is an amazing husband and father and I know he's going to be an amazing lawyer too!

While he was several hours away being admitted to the New York Bar I was busy hanging a few decorations, marinating some steak for dinner and baking a small celebratory cake:

It's just a very basic chocolate cake, but I got a little more adventurous with the icing. I attempted an italian buttercream icing and really...it came out pretty good.

It was a lot of fun to bake and ice, but it was even more fun to see my husband enjoy the cake I'd made him. It was so nice to be able to do a little something for my husband--he's done so much for us!

So congratulations honey! Sit back, relax, take it easy, you deserve it!

Winter has arrived! We've had freezing rain, sleet, snow, very high winds, and single digit temperatures. The overall nastiness of the weather has kept us indoors quite a bit, but we dared to brave the chill and go out to a discount store this weekend.

And what luck we had! I found some ribbon...

and at ten cents a spool I couldn't help but grab a few!

And there was a huge bin full of patterns for only a dollar!! My two favorites...

...these lovely Vintage Vogue patterns. I grabbed some dollar a yard fabric to try the patterns out in and oh am I dying to get my sewing machine out and give these dresses a whirl!

It was one of those spur of the moment purchases. I was racing through the fabric store attempting to locate my Mom, Pookie, and Fig and ran past this:

I immediately fell in love with it, grabbed it and bought it! The picture just doesn't do it justice. It's a flocked taffeta, icy blue and chocolaty brown. I have five lovely yards all my own to make...something with, I just have to figure out what.

A little sketch of my darling Pookie in the circus...

...hanging from the trapeze and walking the tight rope.

I think Pookie would be quite perfect for the circus--she is just as happy upside down as right side up, she has no fear of heights, she has an endless supply of energy, and she's not afraid of anything!

It amazes me that in just six months Pookie has gone from needing help walking to running, dancing, jumping and (so very frightening for me) climbing/scaling furniture and leaping off!

I can only imagine what life is going to be like this time next year when our little Fig is up and moving...

Made this little guy to brighten my sister's office--

He has a tropical feel doesn't he?

And I'm so pleased with the legs. After days and days of endless leg making (and a rather sizeable pile of reject legs) I have finally managed to make legs that I like! Who would have thought that little bird legs could be so hard?!

And then there's this little lady--

Isn't she sweet?

It should be cold. We should all be inside sitting by roaring fireplaces, bundled in sweaters, sipping hot drinks and shivering at the thought of going outdoors. But no, not today. January has been inexplicably kind to us and with temps soaring well above sixty what else could we do but go to the beach!

Pookie immediately took off for the water

And even though the water was cold...in she went!

Fig simply enjoyed the view and did not enter the water

We stayed until the sun began to disappear

And we made it home before the rain started! It was such a beautiful, beautiful day, but oh does that fresh, salty, ocean air make you so very very sleepy....I think it's going to be another early night for me...

There has been a lack of posts recently due to a sudden lack of sleep. During all the driving to and from family holiday parties the girls napped and, unfortunatley, were no longer quite so tired when bed time rolled around. Little girl tiredness wasn't kicking in until late in the evening and last night hit an all time late of 10:30!
Yes, there were busy little feet tearing up and down the hallway, into the kitchen and on to the living room until way too late at night! So needless to say, by the time baby eyes were asleep I was too tired for blogging.
However I think we are finally back on schedule! At 8:30 tonight my two little darlings were fast asleep.
We've recently started reading books to the girls at bed time. Pookie is in love with her books, reads them constantly, but has a tendency to be a little rough on them and so all the non board books have been tucked out of her reach. So at bedtime as a special treat we read one of the "delicate" books. Tonight we
read the delightful "Toot and Puddle: Charming Opal." It is absolutley adorable and highly recommended by both Pookie and myself (and I'm sure Fig would recommend it too if she hadn't slep through my reading of it.)
Anyway, I think it's early bed time for me as well, I have a lot of sleep to catch up on. It sure is nice to be back blogging though!

One of many New Year resolutions was to be neater and so I spent the day sorting and organizing my crafting supplies.

And now I have a nice, neat, organized case of supplies...

and a nice, neat, organized box of felts (aren't all the colors beautiful!)

So now the question is...can I keep it that way??

Happy New Year everyone!