Gifts, Gifts and more Gifts

First of all, let's say Happy Birthday to M2 who turned five on Saturday!

She is such a fun-loving kid. She opened her presents and was truly surprised and thrilled with each and every one. She requested a strawberry cake with vanilla icing. I delivered. Keep in mind that home made organic vegan strawberry cakes and no added coloring are NOT pink. So her response was "Wow, nice...it's not pink, huh?" I think she (and the rest of the skeptics) were thrilled with the taste though. I should really write down the recipe before I forget it.

I still didn't manage to finish my doll for her but she will get the first one as soon as I finish them. I DID manage to make her a new Maezy dress in a print that she loves and a little matching dress for her doll. (Note my awesome ballooning skills.)

It was such a great day for her. She's getting to be such a big girl. Pretty soon she'll be in Kindergarten! Yikes.

And our gift receiving doesn't stop there.
I entered into one of the One World One Heart giveaways on the Pumpkinhaus blog. And I won! I couldn't believe it... I never win! I got this great 'little lumpkinmaus' figurine named Marcy (unrelated to my Lumpkin, but just as fun:) AND as a great surprise bonus Dani threw in some beautiful tye-dyed T-shirts and pinwheel barrettes for each of my gals. It was such a fun package to open. The girls got so excited about it. Here they are modeling...

and here's my new little Marcy paling around with one of M1's beeswax snails...

I think maybe Mr. Snail sleeps inside her little belly door at night when we go to sleep;)

And last but not least,
I picked up my new yarn from Rachel-Marie last week for a custom sweater order and it was beautiful as usual. It's my first time using the Autumn Patchouli and it's crrrrazy pretty!

I was happy to discover that she also gave me a couple more of her beautiful hand dyed yarns as a gift. I think I'll incorporate the purple into the sweater (pictures coming soon!)

I'll leave you with my (finally) finished Orange Frogfest sweater (also made with KDG yarn). It turned out really cute but MAN did it give me some grief. I would have to charge $500 to compensate for the mamahours I put into that thing, but it was a good learning experience.

Hopefully, I'll list it in the shop soon. (don't worry it won't cost that much;)

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone for all of the wonderful gifts we have recieved!
(And for my family that's reading this, check out this Chet and Edgar update.)

One Month

Baby X
Well, baby's first month flew by in a flash, as usual. I'm sure next time I look at her she'll be huge and doing some amazing new tricks. You can't look away for second! She still has no name, which I hear is completely ridiculous at this point (everyday, from everyone I meet). Soon, very soon.

In the meantime, I finally listed some of the new goodies I've been working on for the shop. I love the new sweaters. I love making them. Most of them require lots of different skills, so I don't ever get bored with them. From the moment the yarn arrives at my door from Rachel-Marie I'm excited about those little sweaters. Unfortunately, since they are each unique and rather time consuming, I tend to become very attached to them, so hard to see them go after all the time we've spent together. I have to say, seeing a little one wearing the sweaters makes all that sadness melt away though.


So sweet! I knit each one freestyle, that is, I just start knitting and see what happens. At first I thought I should try to write down the patterns as I go, so I can duplicate the sweaters later, but I get so easily bored creating the same thing over and over again (as I've experience with my beloved seamonster collars). I'm happy with my decision to keep them OOAK, it makes kids feel extra special knowing they are the only one to have that particular sweater.

In other news, the fam and I will be heading out to Pittsburgh for most of August so any orders placed during August won't ship out until late in the month. Bummer, I know.
Have a loverly weekend.

Just an update

I have a million things I want to share, so bare with me for a moment. First here's the progress on the garden so far. It doesn't look to impressive I admit, but there is only so much a pregnant woman can do. I cleaned up all the weed growth, and Lorenz 'installed' my bamboo fencing. I decided to leave one bed open for my new step-dog to have a poop patch. It seems to do the trick. I also cleaned up the wisteria and will hopefully have this new IKEA trellis in place soon because it will start

taking over the yard before we know it.At the front of the house we have a special little memorial Lumpkin garden which I'll post about later this week because it has some exciting features this year.

Moving on to the kitchen,
this morning i was inspired by my huge sack of the most delicious oranges this season, to create a new granola recipe.

Orange Ginger Coconut Granola
(first draft)
Preheat oven to 300' F
6 c. oats
1 c. chopped pecans
1/4 c. tasted sesame seeds
1 c. unsweetened medium cut coconut
1 t. ground ginger
1/2 t. salt
........
juice and zest of one orange
1/4 c. coconut oil melted
3/4 c. maple syrup
1 t. vanilla extract

mix it all together and pour onto 2 cookie sheets with a rim.
bake at 300'F for 1 hr. or until it's all dried out and golden brown.
Stir once half way through baking.

I think it turned out pretty well. It wasn't terribly sweet and the oranginess was perfect.
I only use coconut oil occasionally, but a less saturated oil would work out just fine too. Give it a try and let me know what you think. In other news, I'm moving closer to finishing my little sleeveless spring knittydirtygirl sweaters. I have postponed my adventures in polymer clay button-making in exchange for a simpler solution. I've discovered the joys of Shrinky-Dinks. M2 looking very "little match girl"I got a variety pack from the local Micheal's store and I've been experimenting with it daily. I think I've settled on a simple little button for the sweaters and
I'll be sure to post the finished beauties soon!
I also want to say (and this is a little bit late) that today is the last day of the Lancaster County Library Book Sale. That means it's half price day! and if you get there late in the day around 3 or 4 they will let you fill a bag for like a $1.00. I love that book sale. M2 and I went on Monday with the rest of the book lovin' kooks in town. We had to park a half a mile away and it was pouring down rain, but we had fun. This was the first year that my youngest was able to entertain herself browsing books for a couple hours. I came away with a few gems including a cutesy little sewing book for M1 and a sweet little May Day 'Operetta' just in time for Mayday. My favorite was the tiny little hardbound Maurice Sendak alphabet book Alligators All Around. Well, I guess that's about it. We're off to have some lunch and take our nap, M2 is four years old and she's just now starting to take naps! I'm training her for when lumpkin3 arrives. Because I plan on napping constantly! I'll leave you with a peek at our lunch- Vegan grilled 'cheese' can be fun, I swear!Vegan grilled 'cheese' w/ FYH jack cheese, pizza sauce for dipping, oranges, blue corn chips, mint tea

YUM! Maybe I'll do my little Lumpkin garden post tomorrow in honor of May Day?
We'll see, have a lovely Wednesday!