Scarves, bundles and bird’s eye views

Hi , friends!

I’ve been pretty off the radar lately – mostly because I’ve just been consumed with a hundred projects, plus preparing for a trip, plus trying to eek in all the qt I can with my babes before we leave them in Franklin for five days. (I totally miss them already and I’m typing this on the plane.)

Still, I wanted to let you know that I’m still here, still alive, and I thought it would be fun to show you just a peek at what I’ve been up to this week.

I haven’t done a ton of sewing lately (though I have plans for a couple of cool tutorials coming up this month!), but I did have to sneak into the sewing room on Thursday during Hazel’s naptime to give Keight’s new tutorial a try.

Maybe y’all have seen it on her blog? She found a cool braided scarf on Pinterest that she really liked, but it was over $40, so she sat down and started fiddling with fabrics until she figured out how to make it herself – then took the time to share the secret with the rest of us.

I didn’t have time to run to the fabric store, so I made my way the clearance section at Target and grabbed the cheapest, coolest knit fabric I could – I was hoping to find enough fabric in one garment to make the whole scarf and I was happy to find a nice dress for only $9. I was honestly tempted to try to salvage the top 2/3 and try to wear it with a belt, leggings and boots but I needed more of it than I realized. (so it was a little big on me, but I think I could have made it work)

The tutorial was great and super clear and I turned out that scarf in under fifteen minutes. I did realize in retrospect though that I should have picked two more contrasting fabrics – the coolness of the braid is a bit lost in mine. (See Keight’s – it’s blue and white and much better for showing off the cool detail).

(Also, pardon me cutting off my head in this shot. I was working with a tripod and a timed shutter and a nearly-ending naptime.)

I also spend the last several days getting all my ducks in a row to prepare for my chicks to stay with my Mom & sister while we’re gone. I knew I wanted to be as orderly as possible so I wouldn’t spend my time in the windy city alone with Ryan worrying about details I’d forgotten for Oliver & Hazel.

Thus, the bundled and labeled clothes. (I was initially going to  pin the days of the week to the stacks of clothes but that seemed risky and untidy. So, I tied them with torn scraps of fabric and stitched paper with the days of the week on them and felt much better.)

But really, who am I kidding? I’m still going to be thinking about them constantly. Isn’t that what Mamas do?

Also, a note without a photo (gasp!). My dear and bosom friend (and college roommate) Christine had a baby on Wednesday. I’m pretty sure she had him early just for me so I can visit her while I’m in Chicago and hold him and take squishy newborn photos of him. Thanks for that, Stine. I love you and I love Mr. Harper Lewis.

In other news, we had Ryan’s parents here for a very brief visit to celebrate Ryan & Oliver’s birthdays. They brought O’s gift early and he and Granddad (and Hazel) had a fun time working together to assemble his new bicycle.

And finally, I’ll leave you with a photo of the Chicago lakeshore taken from my little window on the plane. I love bird’s eye views – and I like to think it’s my duty to be on the lookout for suspicious/criminal activity in fields and on rooftops as we make our descent. Worry not, Chicagoland. Everything seems safe to me!

Tomorrow is the Chicago Marathon! If you want to track Ryan’s progress you can click here and enter his bib number (#29242) to watch his progress throughout the morning. Go, Ryan! And, go Team World Vision!

Related posts: