Distressing Furniture

The hubs and I have been blessed with families that unloaded their old furniture onto us when we moved out.  Which is actually kind of awesome because we saved lots of money.  But it's less awesome when the furniture is outdated and non-matching.  Luckily for us, I'm a thrifty DIY kinda gal!

I did some serious research (ahem) on Pinterest, and consulted my copy of the very 90's DIY paint book Debbie Travis Painted House (thanks Mom!).  And came up with this!

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012!

Feeling rather pregnant

Phew!  What a year 2011 has been...  My hubby and I were chatting one night at the end of December about how much has changed in the past year.  We had no idea as we began 2011 that we would:

• find out we were pregnant 
• both lose our jobs 
• lose the baby 
• both find new jobs 
• get pregnant again
• move to the coast  

And all of this happened within the first 4 months of 2011!!!  The past year really has tested us but provided us with so many wonderful things as well.  New friends, new career opportunities, wonderful weddings and special times with family and friends, plus a healthy pregnancy.  Yippee!

Caramia Made - Nursery (Part I)

Second-hand antique bassinette, hand-me-down crib, me-made diaper bag

Well, I'm officially due a month from today!  So in addition to finalizing our short list of names, I've also realized that we better get the nursery finished.  We've slowly been accumulating second-hand items from thrift shops, Craigslist, and friends, but now we need to put it all together.

Autumn in the Prairies

We drove as far as Calgary the first day and stayed overnight with some friends and had a great visit, sharing some laughs over my hubby's (amazing) homemade beer. The next morning we got up and went to Ikea for the $1 breakfast and purchased 2 new office / desk chairs since I gave away our old table and chairs to the thrift store after purchasing this amazing antique set!

We continued on our way to my beautiful hometown of Saskatoon, just in time for rush hour traffic gridlock on Circle Drive... ugh.... Saskatoon is growing way too fast and the infrastructure cannot support it. It's only going to get worse before it gets better I'm afraid...

The next morning we hopped into the vehicle with my parents and drove out to Kenton, Manitoba where my grandparents' farm is. It was a nice weekend, full of visiting with lots of relatives that I don't get to see very often (being 3 provinces away doesn't help things!).

I also made a wrap-cardigan that I wore during the dinner and family photos. I used Simplicity 2603 (view A) and some blend-knit fabric in a bright purple... I don't know what it is, but I seem to be wearing a lot of purple these days! It was a pretty simple, straight-forward pattern that I was able to whip up fairly quickly... The fabric was soooo slippery though! I wore my favourite buffalo brooch, lovingly crafted by my friend (in real life, as well as the blogosphere) Jillian at The Noisy Plume as the buffalo is a symbol of Manitoba.

Here is a photo of me with my grandparents; incidentally this is the grandmother who taught me to sew. She also made pretty much all of my clothing for me as a small child.

Coming up sewing projects include Christmas gifts, finishing touches on a few things, as well as my first attempt at a jacket (as well as one for N!).

Happy weekend everyone!