Labels on their way, all the hardware got here today, tags made— Etsy shop should be up in a week!!
I had an itch to sew last night. Thankfully, my pug is very appreciative. 
And then I had the urge to embroider. 
Good thing I had fabric and stuffing to make this bed or my husband may have ended up with his name sewed on all of his pairs of underwear.
I see some things that I could have done differently, but at 11pm, this was all I had in me. I got the instructions here from Lori Marie at little pretty things.
And little Cecilia, well she has never been so happy. Next time , a doggie coat.
I have wanted a pug since I can remember. When we were trying to decide if it was time for a new baby I told Dan that it was a dog or a baby. I had it in my head that I wanted to either cuddle a baby or a wrinkly little pug. Dan made us get a black Lab. Needless to say, we had a baby.
Auggie turned 6 months on Wednesday and I still wanted a pug. I should have just told Dan that I wanted a baby AND a pug, but after talking to NM pug rescue, I found out that it wasn’t too late.
Meet Cecelia Miller. We are calling her Cessie.
Oh, she makes Auggie so happy. Well, she isn’t ours to keep, we are just fostering her for the rescue who right now has 14 pugs in need of a home. I met up with the NM Pug organizer, Kelly, yesterday at NM Animal Humane and got to take this baby girl home after she had surgery to remove a growth on her arm
You wouldn’t even know that she was cut into yesterday, she is so happy to be here and has already made herself at home. Me, well, I am gonna have a hard time giving her back to be put up for adoption. She is already sporting a Mimi Green original design…
I made her this collar this morning and was going to embroider her name on it until I realized that her new owners might change it. I want her to take this with her so she can remember her foster momma. 
Plus I think the beautiful blue buttons will make her feel better from her surgery, along with the blue striped bed and baby blue leash that I bought her yesterday. I also bought an insane amout of treats, Chicken Soup for the Dog’s Soul canned food, and Paul Newman peanut butter pieces. Noah says that I am going to spoil her.
What is sad is that her daughter was picking on her at the rescue and from the looks of her apparently not letting her eat or drink. Good thing our lab, Etta, is being very generous. 
You can see her stitches in this one, they aren’t pretty. Poor girl.
Sewing the collar was super simple. I will be putting up a tutorial for it soon, I think I’ll make one for each one of the pugs at NM Pug Rescue. Click here for the link to them, but don’t blame me if you instantly fall in love.
Yesterday I told everyone that I work with that manatees are invisible in the wild. Yup, I said it and everyone believed me. And where did I hear this factoid? From my good friend Chad. He was apparently making a joke about how he went on a Manatee tour in Florida this past weekend and how he saw no manatees. I saw the photos and took it literally, I mean how would I have known, there was even a picture of Captain Jack, the invisible manatee tour guide.
After Internet researching for 30 minutes, my boss Doug alerted us to the fact that manatees are not ever invisible, not even in the wild. At least that is what the interwebs told him. I proceeded to defend myself by showing all of them Chad’s photos of invisible manatees and the shadows these gigantic mammals cast. “Look,” I said. “This clealy says that manatees are invisible except for in captivity.” Boy did we call have a good laugh at me when Doug pointed out that he thought that Chad was joking.
Here is the picture that I printed out for my cube of the invisible manatee, it is the one below the photo of Jim Henson’s puppets from the Labyrinth.
Here are some more facts about manatees that you might not know:
1. The average adult manatee is about three meters (9.8 feet) long and weighs between 362-544 kilograms (800-1,200 pounds).
2.There are approximately 3,000 West Indian manatees left in the United States.
3. Manatees can live 60 years or more.
4. Manatees are pregnant for a year. This is what I attribute their slow decline to. If I had to be pregnant for 12 months or face the demise of my species, I can’t say that I would take one for the team. We’d be goners.
Speaking of procreating, Auggie is turning 6 months next week. Here is a sneak peak at the present I am making for him….
Yes, almost six months have gone by. Nuts how fast it goes.
One good thing about working at a news distribution service on Christmas night was that I had 10 hours of uninterrupted time to do whatever I wanted.
And look what I did.
My aunt Lisa finally had her baby on the 23rd and she gave her a name the 25th — Sofia Louise after my grandma. So night before last I sat in my cubicle with my embroidery hoop and a jar full of thread sewing away.
All went well till it was time to go home and assemble the bib. Apparently staying awake all day Tuesday and then coming to work and staying up all night wasn’t good for my motor skills. It took me near 4 hours to make the bias trim, sew it on and wrap the gift up.
But here is my favorite part—
It has arm holes so that she can’t move it and accidentally get her shirt dirty. I know how important this feature is as Auggie will remove any article of clothing that isn’t tied onto him. And even then its likely that he will get it off, but that is another blog for a different day…
On the way to see her it occurred to me that there was a way easier strategy to making the bib. I hate how I over think things sometimes. I just need to remember that this was the prototype. I’ll make her another one when I get the recipe down pat, not that she notices my sloppy stitching and uneven bias work, but still. Her parents must have thought I was drunk when I made it. Yes, it was that bad.
Sofia is super cute as you can see from this picture of the back of her head. Meanwhile, I am super tired looking, but I swear it isn’t as bad as it looks. I am getting quite a bit of sleep which was confirmed when my aunt told me that she was up with a crying Sofia all night long. That has yet to happen to me with Auggie.
Thank God for small miracles.
In the wake of my 26th birthday (Sat, yahoo!) I have flown into reflection mode. How things have changed this year. If I would have made predications based on my state this time last year, I would have said that the year was going to be horrible.
Au contrer mon ami.
If all the years in my life were in competition for who was the best thus far, 2007 would win. Here is why:
1. Auggie was born.
I cried an awful lot last December. I had the baby blues somthing bad and no puppy or $500 esspresso machine or new furniture could make it stop. I really tried to bandaid it though.
In January I found out that I was pregnant. Next to my wedding day, this was the happiest day of my life.
It literally feels like a miricle that Auggie, only one short year later, is here— flesh and blood here. I didn’t think that he existed, not this year or any year. And not only has he made an appreance, but he is amazing. He is perfect. He is all mine.
2. I quit smoking.
Woohoo! I will live to be a very tawdry version of myself and damn my skin will look good. More importanly, I will be around to teach the grandkids about the importance of drinking good coffee, creating every day, and the power in buying handmade.
Oh, and I get to see Dan as an old man. he he.
3. I fell in love with my husband all over again.
Wasn’t sure that we were going to make it through the first year of marriage, but we did it and are way more crazy about each other than ever before. No pain no gain, eh?
He lets me be me. And he like me too. Couldn’t get any better than that.
4. We moved into an amazing house and got really cool jobs.
Love the new pad– there is so much room for all of us now. I must point out that the decorator was impecable. 🙂
Both Dan and I work as editors, he during the day and I at night. It works out perfectly. Noah and Auggie always have one of us home and what can I say, I like the night life.
5. I fell in love with sewing all over again.
I create, therefore I am. Anyway, that is what I tell myself for validation. It had just been so long and it felt so unbelievely good the first time I pulled something off my machine that was real. I always defined myself as an artist but I had to re-evaluate after I hadn’t created any art in months. I thought that I had lost myself. It is really fantastic seeing that part of me come back to life.
6. Lastly, and maybe most importanly, I am so healthy now. And I am sure that it is due to the 5 forementioned things that I have to be happy about.
Now I shall leave you with this:
“There are some days when I think I’m going to die from an overdose of satisfaction.”
~Salvador Dali
My mom was so cute last night. My birthday is still two weeks away, but she got so excited about my present that she gave it to me early. I couldn’t really imagine what it was as she lead me down the hall to her sewing room, but when she opened the door and there lay a brand new Singer with every function a girl could want , I have to admit that I was in a state of shock. My very first sewing machine! And she is beautiful! For the last few months I have been borrowing a machine from Alissa’s boyfriend Nelson — who ever so trustingly and graciously let me keep his baby here as long as I needed it.
After my mom gave me the new machine, whom I think I will name Consuelo after her, we went shopping for new fabrics. Now between the new books, my Singer, and all the new beautiful fabrics we found, I should be good to go. It was the most fun I’ve had with my mom since before I went to college. We don’t usually get to spend any time alone with my 3 little sisters, Noah and Auggie around (not that I am complain about them, its just nice to get some time with your momma sometimes — even when you are a momma yourself.)
I got so excited to come home and show Dan that I lost my car keys in the process of bringing the machine, Auggie and my bags from Ann Taylor (sale weekend yahoo!) in the house. But I didn’t let that break my stride, I was giddy like a little kid all night long! This is turning out to be the best birthday ever. Dan built my work area, my mom got me the sewing machine and I have the new baby here now. Last year at this same time I was a wreck. I was sure that I would never get pregnant and hitting my 25th year of life made me realize my mortality. It’s amazing how in only 360 days things changed so drastically. Now Auggie is 2.5 months old and he and Noah are totally healthy and happy, all a mother could want.
Noah brought this takeout box home today after going out to eat with my uncle. It gave me a warm fuzzy feeling inside. I love when he pops up with things that make me feel like we are actually doing a good job with him.
Not a bad couple of days. Not bad at all.
My UPS delivery guy made me so happy yesterday. I finally broke down and ordered these books for myself, I’m sure you all recognize them. I can’t wait to make myself a pair of Amy’s PJ pants. I am dreaming of a weekend wearing these pants exclusively, drinking lots of warm drinks and reading by the fireplace.
Besides that, I want to work on perfecting my apron pattern. So far it’s looking good, but there are a few changes to make yet. I love how the fabrics are coming together, its really like a birth every time i finish one.
I’m not much of a cook so I am using mine to catch all the thread and fibers that I am endlessly pulling from my clothes. And the pocket is perfect for holding my very loved, absolutely beautiful new Gingher thread snips.
I’m so excited to show this to the girls on Sunday, we are getting together to bake Christmas cookies. I might have declined the invitation since I’ve had to cut dairy from my diet (baby Auggie can’t handle the proteins in the milk) but somehow getting to wear the apron makes my missing-out-on-holiday-yummies-sadness all better. An apron band-aid of sorts.
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