easter eggs

last night jamie and i dyed easter eggs. it was actually our first time in 4 easters together! we only did 6 eggs (since jamie won't eat them), and we used 2 techniques: the rubber band method and a marbleizing method. i don't think the rubber band method is new, but i've never done it, and i had never even heard of the marbleizing method. they turned out ok, and we had a really good time doing it.


here's the set up


step 1: regular dyeing


finished step 1


step 2 put rubber bands on eggs we want to have stripes




dye these


step 3 add oil to color to create "marble" effect


roll egg around in oil mixture, then pat dry with a paper towel (we didn't find this to create much of a marble effect, but it did look cool)






jamie did this one, it's my favorite


finished eggs






sophia was so interested in what we were doing, i think because of the strange vinegar smell!

onesies

jamie and i have decided not to find out the sex of our baby. it's a decision i'm really excited about, however, finding gender-neutral clothes is next to impossible! of course we have quite a bit of time left before the baby arrives, but so far we've only bought 1 outfit! and since the baby is going to be born in the heat of the summer, i figure it will be wearing a lot of onesies (i think babies do no matter when they are born). i've decided to make some of my own. i've made 3 so far, but have plans for lots more! here is what i have so far:


i embroidered this one. first i printed out the design and pinned the paper to the onesie, then did the stitching. this is with the paper still in place.


and the finished elephant


applique








a combination

exciting friday

so... as i mentioned earlier, my friend chris was in town this past friday playing a show. jamie and i went to it and it was really fun to see so many familiar faces. it seems nearly everyone i knew when i lived in florida is now living here in ny. but the most exciting part was that i got to meet one of my music heroes! most everyone who knows me knows that i love the counting crows, well, i love their old stuff at least. anyway, chris has become friends with adam duritz (the singer for counting crows) and when we walked back stage, who was sitting there??? adam himself! of course i played it completely cool, but i was stoked. apparently he is dating emmy rossum, and she was there too. (for those of you who don't know, she was the lead in the phantom of the opera movie). it was a pretty good night. unfortunately during the show i didn't have my camera (i left it back stage like an idiot), but chris' friend mike dubin was there taking pictures and he got some amazing shots! these are his photos. if you want to see more you can at http://ihardlyknowher.com/mikedubin
the rest of the weekend we laid low, it was cold and gross. last night however, i started a new project: decorating onesies. i'm hoping to do some embroidery, applique, etc. i did my first one last night and it turned out really cute. i'll post pics later.


here he is! adam and chris (i was sitting right next to chris btw. in touching distance if i were a crazy person!)


emmy and adam


it was a full house at the nokia theater in time square


john lefler (really cool picture, right?)

beautiful flowers

sophia and i have been taking lots of walks lately. on each walk i notice more and more flowers blooming. i wish so badly that we had some room for a garden, or even a few pots, but alas, we don't. since today is the last day for a while of nice weather (although it was pretty chilly today), i thought i'd take some pictures of the beautiful flowers so i'd have something to look at while i'm inside the rest of the cold week!




















this is my favorite thing to see. i absolutely LOVE potted flowers lining steps.


isn't this so welcoming??? i wish so badly we could do this, but our steps are very narrow, and we share them with several other people.

wednesday

well the rain finally stopped and the sun came out! it was a really nice day today, just a bit breezy. however, the forecast for later in the week is NOT looking good. it's going to drop down into the 40's again. i am soooo over cold weather!
one of my favorite things about new york is that there are several places you can get BOTH a manicure and pedicure for just $22! today after sophia and i ran some errands, i got one! it was nothing special, but it was nice to get pampered.
i also finished the front of the quilt today. again, it was very easy to do, just time consuming penning, sewing, repenning, etc. now i need to get some batting so i can start the quilting process.
we have been lucky so far to have lots of visitors since we've been here. jamie has had a few friends come into town randomly for a night or whatnot, and of course my mom was here last week, as was our friend levi. and i just found out last night that my good friend stacey will be here the end of april, and my friend chris will be in town tomorrow. it's so nice to see familiar faces!


the finished squares


the finished front of the quilt


tonight we had a greek fest for dinner, it was quite tasty!

rain rain go away!

after a GORGEOUS weekend (and all last week) it's been cool and rainy so far this week. i don't mind too much since i had cleaning and sewing projects to keep me busy, but sophia is very depressed. of course my main sewing project right now is making the baby quilt. as soon as i got the house a little bit clean, i started it! it's actually a very simple pattern from amy butler's "little stitches for little ones" book. the hardest part was cutting out all the pieces, and luckily i had my mom to help me with that part. so today my task was putting the pieces together to form large squares. again, it was very simple, but took a little while just sewing all the pieces together. anyway, today i accomplished all the sets of squares but 1 i think. i will tackle that tomorrow. and hopefully the sun will be out so sophia can have some fun too!


this is the book. it's got lots of cute projects (and mine is even autographed thanks to jamie's friend!)


here's a picture of the quilt from the book. it's hard to see it, but it gives you an idea.


these are my completed squares.


and my leftover strips for the next block.


and just for fun, here is a resent belly shot. you can't really tell from this, but i am starting to show! i even had a lady give me her seat on the subway the other day, and another lady let me cut in line for the bathroom!