I live my life thinking of things to make. Not surprising if you know anyone (or are anyone) in my family. In fact compared to most of them I hardly make anything it all. The only reason for that being that I spend my days wrangling two small dictators who don’t leave much time for my own projects. In the winter I love to knit when I have the time and in the summer stitching of many forms is very exciting to me. The idea of spinning and dying all my own yarn totally appeals to me. Lately I haven’t been able to stop thinking about projects. There are so many things I want to do. I have been developing these adorable little birds that I am working into designs for clothing. Both the paint on fabric and stitch. I am also thinking about making patches of them. I am obsessed with Japanese fabric. A vise not helped by the fact that we have the coolest Japanese fabric store in town. To make matters worse two weeks ago my mom, Rachel and another friend and I took a Sashiko (if you are at all like me, you will love that website) class from the store owner and now I want to Sashiko everything I see. So while I am making sketches when the kids are peaceful and planning all the things I will make when I get time (HA!) I needed to do something to work on my craving.
So I did this…
I arranged all of Otto’s books by color. I know it is not going to last because everyday he takes most of them off the shelf at least once to read them. But just look how fab. it looks! It makes me smile and happy. I am happy to put them back like this but I think eric will roll his eyes and laugh if I ask him to indulge me as well. I am working on some very hip patches on my favorite pair of jeans, embroidering a hoodie that was Otto’s for Mette and I just pulled out a tried and true knitting pattern for a sweater for Mette. I think a pink cable knit pullover is in her future. I am getting some things done, but there is always more to do.
I have also gotten into the habit of baking our own bread. Otto calls it Mommy Bread and loves it which honestly is part of why I love making it. I have a great recipe (thanks Rachel) for a simple dough and now I am starting to expand on it. That is a lot of fun as well and we get to eat the results which is always nice. Eating embroidery just isn’t the same.
Speaking of eating, Mette, Mette, Mette. This little girl is desperate to eat all of her brother’s toys. It’s not like we don’t have toys for her, we do. Great ones in fact. And every once in a while she indulges us and chews on them but really what she wants is Otto’s toys. Otto’s everything is cool to her. She lights up at the sound of his name. She def. knows her own name, if you call Mette she looks at you. Then this morning while she, eric and I were all in bed snuggling we started talking about Otto. As soon as she heard his name she had a huge smile on her face. When eric said “Otto” again she started laughing. He is the best thing she has ever seen. That being said, this afternoon she was doing her best to start crawling and made her way over to one of Otto’s backhoes. She was in pure heaven and obviously proud of herself. And I let her chew on it. It is pretty clean, just as clean as any of the other toys she finds and eats. And really who doesn’t want a good backhoe snack after nap?
Also, I am not making a bigger deal out of it because I don’t want to draw attention to it, but Mette is 6 months old!! How did that happen? How is my baby half a year old? I don’t approve at all. She is 6 months old and Otto is potty training!! I didn’t think either of these days would come. Just to make sure we don’t get too high on the hog, Mette has stopped sleeping. She is waking up a lot and needs nothing but Mama by her side. Hence all of us snuggling in the morning, she has been coming to bed with us as it is the only way we all get sleep. She is though taking a good nap in the afternoon if I lay with her. It adds to my not getting anything done, but allows me a good excuse to just chill for a little which I need too. Especially if we aren’t sleeping at night!
OttoMettic 