Molly Piper

This week I finished up the twins’ room! Now we just need two babies to come live in it!

Thanks to my small army of volunteers, here’s how it looks!

This is the girl crib:

This is the boy crib:

This is the boy dresser: (see, Jenny, I need your expert dot-placing help!!!)

Here’s the breakdown:

Jenna helped me sew the bumpers. She was the most patient person while I went from learning how to thread my sewing machine, to making my own bias tape, to finishing the final seam. We finished these bumpers a couple nights ago at 12:30am!

My friend Carol (who doesn’t have a blog) sewed the sheets with/for me. She’s a long-time friend of my husband’s family, and I’ve loved getting to know her through the years. Our times together are always special and really fun!

Abraham gave new life to two old dressers with his awesome paint job! I love how they turned out!

Jenny helped me with the vinyl transfer on the wall (“He gives”). Neither of us had ever done one before and it was kinda funny. She also did the dots over the red (girl) dresser. Everything she touches turns beautiful.

Danielle designed and ordered the “He gives” vinyl for me. She’s amazing.

If you look on the red dresser, you’ll see 3 little canvases. They were painted by my friend Andie. She made a second set for the other twin, but after we found out that Twin B was actually a boy, she offered to take them back and repaint them to look a little more boyish. She’s still working on the second set, and I’m so excited to see them (no pressure, Andie! I mean it!).

And also on the red dresser is a figure of a woman carrying two babies. That came from the amazing women at the Real Hope for Haiti Rescue Center, Licia and Lori! When my parents-in-law visited them a couple months ago, they gave this to them for me and told them that this type of figurine is very popular in the Haiti markets, but it was the first time they’d seen one with a woman holding 2 babies! Thank you, Licia & Lori and the whole Zachary clan. You all amaze me with your work and your hearts for people and God!

Now the countdown is ON! 3 more days!!!

Last week I told you about Abraham’s talented cousin Sunny.

Turns out Abraham’s family brings a lot of talent to the table. This week, I just couldn’t help but share about his cousin Miriam, who is currently working on a Masters in Jewelry & Silversmithing. And she’s doing it in England. How double-cool is that? (And to add to the coolness factor, she gets to spell it “Jewellery” while in England.)

William Morris Necklace by Miriam Rowe

Anyway, she has a blog where she’s asking for quick opinions and impressions on her Masters pieces. I think they’re so creative and beautiful. She’s amazingly talented.

She also has a page for selling her beautiful wares.

If you have a few minutes of browsing time today to check out some amazing art, head on over. Feedback is always valuable for the artiste, I’m told! (Of course, I wouldn’t know, I’m an abominable artist.)

And maybe if enough of us give her traffic, she’ll agree to do a giveaway or something. That’d be cool! Go check her out already!

My husband’s uber-talented cousin Sunny has a very informative step-by-step post about how to make this homemade tent.

I think this is so adorable, and totally want to make one. I was thinking it might have to wait until Christmas, but it’s somewhere on my radar, at least.

I just LOVE this thing!

What crafty projects are on your wish-I-could-do list?

I’m getting this post up during the final minutes of Thanksgiving 2009!

My mother-in-law posted a video of some of our racous family moments today if you’re curious. (Bonus! You’ll see footage of Morrow walking and dancing. Aaand… you’ll get to see my awesome dance moves during a kiddy dance party with Orison and his cousin Grace.)

I mean, who wouldn’t want to see that?

I decided to finish the night quietly, knitting a pair of mittens for Morrow. The weather’s gotten really cold, really fast! So while Abraham sleeps (the lump in the back of the picture) I post on my blog and knit.

I’m thankful for a quiet end to Thanksgiving 2009.

On Saturday, we celebrated Morrow’s first birthday. Hard to believe that it was one year ago that he came into our lives.

We had a nice (read: brief) birthday party for him and sang “Happy Birthday” at 12:22pm, commemorating his entry into the world to the very minute. It was sweet to celebrate that. And it was a good thing he wasn’t born at 3:30 in the morning or something!

For me, the weirdest part of reflecting on a year going past is that I haven’t been pregnant for a whole year. For most women, it’s all about getting used to being pregnant and all the changes that entails. For me, I’ve been trying to get used to this whole not-being-pregnant thing. I suppose back-to-back pregnancies’ll do that to you.

For those of you who wanted to see pictures of the completed sweater I planned to knit for Morrow, here he is modeling it in it’s nearly-completed state. Obviously he’s got some growing to do to fill it out! I suppose that’s the reality he lives with when he’s only in the 15th percentile!

But I’m really pleased with how it turned out. I still have to sew the zipper in (I already finished weaving in that long end in the picture).

Anyway…here’s little Morrow Johnner:

He’s one of the brighest spots in my life. His sweet little voice, his funny little antics, even his whining… it’s all amazing to me. I’m so thankful that I’ve gotten to be his mother for one year so far. I pray to God to give me many more years with him.

Morrow’s birthday is sneaking up on me, coming quickly on August 22nd. I usually try to knit something for my kids for their birthdays, so here’s what I impulsively decided on this morning at the yarn store:

[photos by Loop Knits]

It’s called the Playground Hoodie, and the pattern is by Spud and Chloe, a relatively new yarn brand that I’ve been reading all kinds of hype about and have been eager to try.

Morrow’s sweater will have a zipper sewn in for front closure. And the contrast color I chose is a lime green.

Good thing about it is that it’s really thick yarn and should knit up quickly. I don’t exactly have a lot of time. So I should probably stop blogging about it and actually go start it!

Don’t tell Morrow, though. It’s a surprise.

In my delusions of homemaking grandeur, in which I am perfectly organized and endlessly motivated and nothing ever happens to derail me from my perfectly-laid plans, I imagine myself doing all kinds of things.

I have dreams of being a crafty woman. Everything I touch would turn beautiful.

Something about Valentine’s Day is pretty to me. I like the colors, I guess. Soft pinks, shades of red, all offset with some white… so pretty. Yeah, I know it’s a Hallmark holiday, but I like love. Love is good.

I’ve come across some Valentine’s Day projects in the past couple days that have me dreaming… that’s probably where it’ll end, though.

These are the ones that’ve caught my eye particularly:

Skill level: Easy

I think these heart doilies made out of napkins are adorable (via Martha Stewart, the one who inspires many of my delusions):

Skill level: Intermediate

If I were a scrapbooker, another one of my grand delusions, I’d be all over these 3D paper decorations.

Skill level: Are-you-freakin’-kidding-me

All of this is made of cake. All of it. Not much more to say about that, except not gonna happen. Major props to Bakerella on this one.

What are your favorite Valentine’s Day crafts? Nothing’s too remedial to share (trust me, I’m the world’s worst artist). But if you have mad skills you’ve been wanting to show the world, I promise I’ll still like you.

Happy crafting, whatever shape it takes this week!

This summer I worked on sweaters for the boys to wear this fall and winter. I chose Berroco’s Comfort yarn in a variegated blue called Military Mix.

For Orison’s, I used Knitting Pure and Simple’s Children’s Neckdown Cardigan. This is a pattern you have to purchase, but it’s very good. It would be well worth your $4.

For Morrow, I chose a free pattern for a little ribbed jacket, since I wasn’t sure what size he’d be this fall and winter. I love this pattern too, and I was so pleased with how it turned out.

I just watched this short video on how to make awesome looking paper snowflakes! I’m totally not artistic, so I’m always looking for easy ideas that I might actually have success with.

If I get around to this, I’ll post some pictures of how they turn out! If you get around to it, make sure you blog about it and show me!

(via Modish)