Lula Belle

Comfort Food

Homemade chicken and noodles.  Comfort food at its best!!!

 

My New Little Space (temporarily)

I have been reorganizing and rearranging like a mad woman trying to get ready to squeeze another soul into our already cramped living quarters.  It's a good thing that babies are small and don't need much stuff!!  I am devoting a corner of our bedroom to baby.  Our friends gave us a desk which will work great for a changing area and dresser. We'll be putting a cradle in the corner next to it that will probably never get used, but hey it's nice to have the option!

 

Anyhow, when I brought the desk in I just couldn't help but seeing what my sewing machine might look like on it.  (I got a cheapy machine at a yard sale this fall to hold me over until I can start saving for the Bernina!)  Then I started looking at the fat quarter bundle of the organic cloud 9 line that I picked up at sew to speak the other day.  I was going to make a baby quilt out of it, but decided that it might look pretty nice just hanging on the wall for a little while.  The space started looking pretty great to me so I claimed it as my own.  Just for now.  I have the changing pad stashed in the corner.  It won't go anywhere.  I have a whole month until I really need it!!!!  Right?

So today I will be sewing up some wet bags in my new little corner of the world and making food to freeze in the kitchen.  Lots of soup and lasagna!

And a little bit of randomness.....I just had to post the morning sky today.  It was just too beautiful not to share!!! 

Bird Watchin'

We decided to put a bird feeder out this year in hopes of spotting more birds.  Since most of our time is spent in the main family room we put it right outside of the big windows for prime viewing.  It took the birds awhile to find it and I was a little worried that the placing wasn't very good due to all of the activity.  But as the snow came, so did the birds.  There was much excitement when we realized that they had found us!!!  We think that a deer might have come from the back and cleaned us out last night too.  Katie is now devising plans to keep him out.  There are fences, gates and trees involved!!!   

I ordered some yarn from this shop on Etsy last week and it is the most beautiful soft delicious yarn.  I will be buying more!!!  I got it to make a warm cozy hat for baby.  February is fast approaching and as much as I plan on holing up with our tiny bundle for as long as possible, I know that eventually I will have to go outside and the little babe will need a warm hat!  I omitted the puff balls on the side and added i-cords on the sides in hopes of keeping it on.  I am very pleased with the end result.  It was super quick to make and oh so soft!!

 

A Day of Rest

Today while the kids were at school I took some much needed mamatime.  My family was gracious enough to buy me a massage for my birthday and today I cashed it in!  When I got home, I took a long hot bath and got into my sweats.  It was lovely!  Thank You my loves!!! 

 

The Snoopys Need a Dog House

 At an after Christmas sale last week we stumbled upon a friend for Snoopy.  Katie was beyond thrilled to have two Snoopys to share her days with.  The Snoopys have been going everywhere with her.  They like to play games and go to school and eat out.  

 The only problem is that the tent is just too small for both of them to fit!  So Katie found a box and decided that it needed to be turned into a dog house for her new best friends.  With a little cutting and a lot of packing tape the dog house was born.  We have big plans on painting it, but we just can't find enough time to let it dry without disrupting nap time!!  So for now it will remain brown, but that seems to be just fine with the owners.

 

The red netting(from the Clementine box) is their rug/blankets and were also used as butterfly and bird wings through the day.  My wee environmentalist/pack rat can't seem to let me get rid of anything.  She can always come up with some kind of new use for whatever comes in the door and I can never wait to see what she'll have in mind next!  
 

Today

Outside::

 

  
 

Inside::

 
 

 

  Hope your weekend is happy and warm!
  

For the Little One!

I have been busy making soakers for the new babe now that the Christmas rush has calmed.  I'm not really sure what will work best so I have been trying out lots of different patterns.  It is so much fun making all of these tiny things!!

 

 I used this pattern with knitpicks wool of the andes.

 

This is a version of the picky pants made with wool of the andes.  They were looking a little big so I felted them.  Now they look about right, but I am wondering about the stretch.

This is the ribby wrap also from little turtle knits in fisherman's wool.  It turned out so tiny!!!  It looks like it will fit one of Katie's babies!!!  We'll just have to wait and see if it will fit a real baby.  I tend to have babies that are on the large side.

 
 Another pair of picky pants.  This pattern is so much fun because you can do so many different variations!

 

The five hour baby sweater using Knit Picks superwash.  It took a little longer than 5 hours, but it was pretty quick and easy. 
 

I'm thinking of trying this soaker next!!  Oh so many things to make!!!  YAY for tiny babies to make stuff for!!!!!

Staying cozy

 

It's snowing like crazy outside and we are doing our best to stay warm and cozy indoors.

 

 
 

 
 A little homemade hot chocolate with fresh whipped cream and popcorn seem to help!  I hope that you are cozy and warm wherever you may be.  

Handmade Christmas: The Knits

Lots of mittens and cowls......

 

This is the cornflower cowl.  It took me forever, but I really like how it turned out.  Hopefully my MIL likes it too!

 

 

These are feather and fan cowls.  The first one has a garter stitch border.  I like it better.

 

This is the ridged lace cowl.  This one was fun and quick.

 

The Dolores Park Cowl for mom.  It is super warm!

 And since the mittens all pretty much look the same I 'll just post a couple.  The lighting was poor when I was  taking photos so you can hardly see the colors anyway.
 

 

 
 
 
 

Handmade Christmas: Soaps

Lots of soaping was going on here in November.  This year with a little help from Katie and a couple of friends we made Fir, Mint, Lavender, Rose and Oats and Honey.

To go with it I tried to make bath bombs and bubble bath.  The bombs were indeed a bomb.  I think that I got them too wet.  I will be trying these again in hopes of one day getting it right.  The bubble bath wasn't very bubbly either.  It does smell good though so I am still using it.  We did make some sugar scrubs that turned out pretty good besides the containers leaking!!  Yikes!!!  Oh well, the soaps were divine.