hedgehog mobile.

i think margot has one of the coolest mobiles ever, partly due to all of the amazing people that made it happen.

someone i know and love, who has requested to remain nameless (wink wink), has access to some very cool things, like laser cutting machines. and when i heard about this, i kind of took advantage of said person's kindness.

i designed the tiny hedgehogs in inkscape and then through the miracle of technology and some amazing people, these lovely white plastic hedgehogs showed up on my doorstep all the way from virginia.

then jon sharp rigged them all up to the structure from a photo mobile and hung them up in miss margot's room (he may have had to hang them more than once, due to having a demanding wife).

 

and miss margot loves them. she thinks they're the bee's knees.

chalkboarrd globe.

i got this globe awhile ago at the thrift store for three dollars and was never quite sold on it's bright blueness.

it's nothing that a coat of white spray paint and some chalkboard paint can't fix though. (jon warns margot that i may spray paint her if she sits still too long--i may have a slight problem.) 

and now i have something else to practice my chalk-boarding skills on.

three months.

man. this kid. makes my heart explode.

really, heart gunk everywhere.

 

month four may not make it into that onesie.

a tree for margot.

i've been having great fun decorating the house for christmas. even margot's room has gotten a bit of a festive touch.

 

this tiny tree (if you can even call it that) came together in a matter of minutes. all that it took was a branch from the yard, a thrift store carafe, some aptly labeled very small rocks, and  a few ornaments.

i decorated using a handful of these paper stars that i made and some pink and red bells that didn't make the cut for our big tree.

accessorize with a wooden ball and a glittered stegosaurus, and voila, a touch of christmas for miss margot.

wreath.

since i never took our christmas wreath down last year, it no longer felt very festive (i had every intention of taking it down, i just keep forgetting...for twelve months...it happens). thus, a new wreath was in order.

this project came together fairly quickly, and all i needed to buy for it was the faux foliage. i went with eucalyptus branches, because they seemed to be the best bang for my buck at hobby lobby. i was really surprised at how expensive fake flowers are. even the eucalyptus seemed pricey at seven dollars for the bunch shown below, but at fifty percent off, i got out for only three fifty.

since i was going for a light weight look, rather than buying a wreath frame, i just used some heavy gauged garden wire to make my wreath base. i drew out a circle on some cardboard, hence the lampshade, and then ran the wire three times around my traced out circle. i finished off the base by tacking the three loops together with some of the floral wire, just to make the whole thing easier to work with.

i then wrapped the eucalyptus around the base, doubly thick, tacking as i went along with floral wire. a couple of coats of white spray paint later and some festive bunting cut from red card stock, and i have myself a new wreath.

 

and i even have some supplies left over, so mayhaps i will be making some more wreaths.

rocking chair.

i've finally got around to reupholstering the rocking chair we bought for margot's room back in may, and i'm pretty excited about the results.

we found the chair at an antique store in the area that used to be a grocery. it had great bones, but its most recent upholstery job left me wanting, both in style and in padding. that thin little seat cushion just wasn't going to cut it with my bottom.

so, after reading just about every tutorial on the internet and carefully removing the original fabric, i was committed. before upholstering it, i gave the chair a light sanding and stained it slightly darker to match margot's dresser. i didn't get a lot of process shots, but it mostly looked like this--me destroying the living room with a lot of fabric and batting scraps and a staple gun.

 

the most stressful part was deciding how to to cover up all of those staples. i like the look of double welt cording but was pretty intimated by the process. i ended up using this tutorial, which made it seem really approachable, as it didn't require any special sewing machine equipment (i may still be afraid of the 'zipper foot'). i was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly it went and how sharp the results look. totally worth the stress.

and a before and after. so much better with two inches of foam padding added to the seat. my bottom is thankful.

dapper woodland animals.

for margot's room, i wanted to do a wall of art, and when i found four of these frames at the thrift store, i knew they would be part of it.

of course the plastic faux wood look and the country images had to go, but they had potential. to go in the frames, i decided to embroider a series of dapper woodland animals that i had drawn awhile ago.

this is clarence the fox. i started off by stitching his outlines and a couple of the clothing details, and i then filled in the areas with colored pencils.

after i finished stitching, clarence got cut out and glued to a fabric backing i had added to the frame. after clarence, i also stitched henrietta, archibald, and margaret.

and here they are, a dapper mr. fox, miss doe, mr. badger and miss rabbit.

i think they look quite swell on margot's art wall. there are still quite a few empty frames, but it's coming together nicely. we'll see how long it takes those last four frames to be filled.

bedtime stories.

this is what happens when an aerospace engineer and a civil engineer have a baby.

bedtime stories at the sharp house.

two months.

this cutie turned two months old last week.

nine pounds, ten ounces. and now quite the smiler.

so much growing. so much cuteness.

yet more cider.

this years cider making process was a little different than last year's. for one, we bought almost one hundred more pounds of apples--two hundred and sixty pounds--and i did the whole thing with a margot strapped to me.

here's a libby's-eye-view of this year's haul. that's a brightly colored margot head in the corner.

during the whole process magot was all snuggly in my moby wrap, mostly sleeping. here we are making apple mush.

when all was said and done we got about sixteen gallons of delicious cider. yum.

pillow.

my typical yarn hobby of choice is knitting, but while i was making the margot hat i realized that i can crochet while holding margot, at least if she's sleeping. so i decided to knock this pinterest project off my list.

my goal with this was to spend no money, and only use supplies already in my stash. i was successful too, down to the backing fabic.

and does my toughest critic approve?

yes, conan approves.

a hat.

margot is quite bald. she has some old man hair, just around the sides and in the back, but nothing to keep the top of her large noggin warm. thus, hats are a must.

this hat actually happened by accident. i was going to make an owl toy, but when i was done with the body, jon asked if i was making a margot hat. i put it on her head and realized i had indeed made a margot hat.

 

perhaps when she grows out of it, i'll finish up making it into an owl. but for now, it's keeping margot's head nice and cozy.

one month.

i can't believe it's already been a month.

that shirt believes it though. already getting tight. eight pounds, two ounces at her four week check up. and a tall little lady at twenty-one inches.

and pensive. that's her 'why am i laying in my crib, poorly clothed' face.

and a side by side!

crazy.

hello cross stitch.

i've been wanting to make a giant cross stitch for a while now, and decorating a nursery gave me a good excuse to try it out.

we're not going to talk about my first failed attempt (word of advice, don't try to do it on low quality wood, it will only lead to sorrow), but here's the process that ultimately worked for me:

i started off with a thirty-six by twenty-four inch canvas and planned out everything in photoshop to determine what size x's i needed. i then printed off graph paper with the right sized grid and laid out my design.

with the graph paper taped to the canvas, i then took a small nail and punched holes everywhere i would need to thread the yarn through--all six hundred and six holes (yeah, i counted). surprisingly, this wasn't as time consuming as i had anticipated.

and then it was just a matter of stitching it, using a tapestry needle and yarn. this was probably a funny thing to watch a very pregnant libby do. reaching the letters in the middle of the canvas was particularly challenging.

and here it is hanging in the nursery above the changing table dresser. pretty cute, i think.

hello margot.

margot.

margot grace. born september fourteenth at six forty-four p.m. six pounds, twelve ounces, twenty and a half inches long, and a pure delight.

it's only been a week, but i think we'll keep her.

 she did not approve of the photo shoot.
 

this is going to be quite the adventure...