Want in on a swap?

If you're like me, and relatively new to blogland, the whole swap thing looks like a lot of fun. I always see everyone blogging about what they're making for some super cool swap, but guess what? It's already too late for me to join in on the fun! Boo! Well here's a new swap that's set to start up in January - so there'll be no interference with your Christmas sewing! Issabella the Cat is hosting a Japanese x and + block swap. You sign up to make a certain number of blocks (in multiples of 5) and receive that many in return. Simple, right? Head on over to the flickr group to find out more and join in on the fun!

TIL it just ain't that serious...

I've been bad...it has been entirely too long since I posted last. But you know how it is around the holidays; it seems like there is never enough time. I'm a sucker for this time of year - I start getting excited right around Halloween, and I'm usually in that dreamy, holiday mood until Christmas is over. Every year since I was pregnant with my oldest daughter, I've been going Black Friday shopping. One year I actually spent the night in Wal-Mart Thanksgiving night - yeah, I'm one of those. (Although that year I was keeping a dear friend of mine company while she waited for a camera her father - who was unable to make it out as he had just been diagnosed with cancer and had had a particularly draining round of chemo. So I think that was well worth my time.) This year though I started thinking it might just not be worth it any more. I was at my hometown Wal-Mart in a very small Southern town, so I figured I might have a pretty good chance at the 16" bike I wanted for my oldest daughter. Oh boy I was wrong. I have never seen so many people crammed into that Wal-Mart. Turns out, that Wal-Mart didn't have any of the 16" girls bikes, but I do have this gem to share with you. As I was inching my way down one of the main aisles I overheard two Wal-Mart associates talking. Apparently a man had informed the crowd that he was getting three boys' bikes, and he didn't care if he had to cut someone to do it. Of course the police were called to come and stand next to the man (who as it turns out only had a pocket knife - not that I'd want to be cut with a pocket knife either, but I mean, hey) until time to unwrap the bikes. The second associate's response: "Man, I mean, it just ain't that serious." Priceless.

Fresh Sewing Day

I can't believe the month of October is already over! I feel like I have done nothing - just four sleepless weeks of being a diaper-changing zombie :) So to make myself feel better, I'm linking up with Lily's Quilts today for Fresh Sewing Day. The idea is to take a look at what you've sewn for the last month.

So, let's see, what have I done this past month? Well, like I said, I changed a whole bunch of diapers - I'll spare you the pictures ofthose though. I did manage to get a jump on my Christmas sewing. I made these Christmas stockings using Thimble Blossoms' Merry pattern and Cluck Cluck Sew's tutorial. I'm using the Merry pattern to create the fronts of the stockings (except for the checkerboard one - I just improvised there) and Cluck Cluck Sew'stutorial to line the stockings and add the cuff. It's an awesome tutorial, very easy to follow. I really wanted to have Christmas stockings for the family that match without being too matchy and that we could use every year. I liked these first two so well that I decided to make more to give out as Christmas gifts this year (especially considering all the hospital bills I'm expecting to flood the mailbox any day now from the delivery).So, that's two stockings down (I still need two more for my husband and me) and about a ba-gillion to go.

I also finished a Bottled Rainbows block. I love this quilt, but i

t is taking me forever to get the scraps together in all the right colors. I originally wanted to have it ready to take to the hospital with me last month, but I finally realized the futility of this and chose a different quilt instead.

I started a quilt for new baby S using these fabrics and a tutorial by Oh Fransson! It should have been finished by now except that I pieced the rows together while I was particularly sleep-deprived and put them in the wrong order. I need to go back and rip out, and it just made me so mad that I can't stand to look at it. It was supposed to be such a simple quilt - easily done in an afternoon. Hmmp. On a totally unrelated side note, a dear, dear friend informed me that she read that your brain shrinks by 2% when you have a baby. (She assured me that it goes back to normal eventually.) Go figure.

And just this last week, I started making Swoon blocks. I am absolutely head-over-heels, take it home to meet Mom, in love with the Swoon pattern. I've been seeing the blocks all over blogland and have been dying to try some of my own. I finally decided on the Dreamer colorway from the new Amy Butler Lark collection with some coordinating Kona solids thrown in.

I'm also working on a baby blanket for one of my favorite cousin's new baby boy using a Swoon block in the middle and some Children at Play prints. I'm super excited to see how it all comes together.

And last but never least, I have to include S (even though technically she finished cooking in September rather than October). They're always so sweet when they're asleep, aren't they?

I'm also linking up to the Small Blog Meet, because I definitely qualify :)

Thanks for sticking with me through this rather long-winded post!

TIL that there is a prescription medicine for colic :) Score! Maybe tomorrow I'll learn whether or not it works!