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Month: October 2011

custom crib bedding.

I recently had the pleasure of sending off a large brown paper package to a customer.  Back in the summer, a mama-to-be contacted me about crafting a crib bedding set based on a Ten Thousand Villages-esk/Indian/ethnic theme that would go hand in hand with her nursery.  She needed a quilt, bumper, and box pleat crib skirt.  Of course I jumped on the chance because what fun would that be!  I loved the combination of reds, yellows and oranges — it gave the bedding a real pop of expression and culture.

and lastly, a customer photo of it in action

recap: crafty bastards fair.

It finally feels good to have things quiet down a bit after the busyness of the last couple months.  Last night as Greg and I cuddled close in bed, Greg had his hand on my belly and we both felt in awe as we felt two little ones shuffle about.  Little pitter patter hands and feet here and there.  It only lasted a few minutes, but it was hard to deny or assume they were gas bubbles.  I’m almost 15 weeks now, and I’ve heard that if you’ve been pregnant before, you are more likely to feel baby earlier than a first time mom.

Onto the Crafty Bastard’s Arts + Crafts Fair!  Weather-wise, you could call it the worst possible craft fair weather known to man.  Despite the wind and rain, the fair organizers expected 20,000 people to meander through — and they were right, people came!  This particular fair has been around for the past 8 years and the Adams Morgan locals never miss it.  All in all, I would say my very first craft fair went very well.  I was initially worried that I didn’t make enough, but that fear subsided when everything was displayed.

For sale, we had harem pants, kurtas, headscarves, cloth rattles, bibs, felt flower hair clips in varying sizes, swaddling blankets, bloomers, crib pillows, bunting, and some sweet quilts by La Sweetie in a variety of Indian block prints.  It was also a pleasure to have tent mate, Slide Sideways from Seattle — I purchased a nifty screen printed camera pouch from her.

uber cool handmade signs, like in my dreams, by best friend, the talented gifty john

I felt so blessed to be surrounded by family and close friends who helped a ton, and fed Greg and I with delicious burgers and falafel when things began to get super busy.  I was surprised to see people I hadn’t seen in a while, and friends who came by to support Susie Mey with a purchase.  Thank you!  And thanks to my amazing and super handy hubby — he’s definitely got a carpenter’s gene in there somewhere — he crafted a beautiful clothing rack [mirrored after this one I wanted so bad] to display and store my handmades at craft fairs and for my sewing space at home.  It was also so nice to be manning our fair table together — I talked to customers while he did all the transactions.  We used Square on our iPad to accept credit cards — umm, can I say so cool?!  Thanks to the crazy talented Chelsea Hudson Photography for all the beautiful model shots which I use all the time for promotional material!!!  Also a special thanks to Gifty and Becky who stayed up late with me the last week leading up to the fair, ironing, cutting fabric, and for sitting with us in the rain!

This craft fair got Greg and I excited about doing more fairs.  It was so much fun meeting people, and talking fabrics.  : )  It feels so good doing what just innately feels so right.  I think I found my niche.

annual camping trip.

It looks like I have lots of updating to do on the blog.  So much to catch up on and so much I want to say.  Let’s start with our fall camping trip in Pennsylvania. Seeing that we had a lovely time camping with family last year, it only seemed right to do it again this year, but with more family and friends.

Our tents lined the banks of Gifford State Park and overlooked its beautiful lake of shining waters [for you Anne of Green Gables fans].  It was officially Dhara’s second time camping, and what a good little camper she is!  Our little family of three loved getting cozy in our small tent filled with Pottery Barn quilts, as Greg would say.  He wouldn’t call it real camping since we weren’t roughing it, but not sure how you do that yet with a wee one.  Anyhow I love my quilts, and camping just wouldn’t be the same without three, or maybe four of them.  : )

As we were taking down our tents after 2 days of outdoor living, my cousin asked me if the same tent would work for next year with 4 people — little did we know there would be more than that.

our first night in the tent and she loved it!

the gregor snatched me and the dhara-girl away from the rest of the group one evening to watch the sunset in a secret location : )

watching the sun set

lilia + dhara

caleb

 

dhara + her daddy

sinking in.

Already at 13.5 weeks preggo, our very first ultrasound was only scheduled for two days ago.  This is a little late in the game because by this time, most people have already had 1-2 ultrasounds.  So we walked into Maternal and Fetal Medicine so very ready to see our little one — me, literally dying for this day to come.

The ultrasound tech spread some jelly on my belly and began to run the monitor back and forth over the jelly to locate the baby.  After noticing something on the screen, with an interesting tone she says, “So this is your first ultrasound?”  We responded with a “yes.”  She proceeds to say, “Well if you look over here, here’s your baby.  And if you look over here, here’s another baby.”  Greg and I both said, “What?!!”  The tech nodded with a smile on her pleasant face and said, “You are having twins.”  I couldn’t hold back the tears that were flowing down my face — I felt amazement, intimidation, shock, love.  I could tell the technician felt honored to be part of such a moment which didn’t happen very often at 13 weeks.

two babies

The Maternal and Fetal Center was all a buzz with the couple who didn’t know they were having twins!  Everyone looked at us and smiled.  As the receptionist scheduled a plethora of appointments for me, she looked up knowingly and said, “So you really didn’t know?” : )  I can assure you, we had no clue.  After getting my appointment card, my little family walked out into the sun not knowing what to say.  We just had big smiles on all our faces — Dhara not knowing what she was smiling about.  And that was that.

As for the babies, since each of them have their own placenta, amniotic sac, and umbilical chord, the babies are considered dichorionic twins (fraternal), which means they can look completely different and they will either be the same gender, or a girl and a boy.  Greg says it’s a girl and boy combination.  We will find out the end of November!

baby A

baby B

So it’s finally sinking in that we are going to be a family of 5 in about five months. It feels so weird to jump from a cozy 3 to a somewhat large 5 just like that. Somehow I feel like someone’s pressed the fast forward button on my life and now all of a sudden we will be parents to 3 babies under 3.  Greg and I are still somewhat in shock, but we are so so so very thrilled to see these two bambinos and are blessed to have the help of family and friends to guide us along the way.

one happy big sister

doubly exciting news!!!

Well folks, it was a super emotional, thrilling and happy day today when Greg, myself and the Dhara-girl found out we are having not one, but TWO babies next spring!  More to come after we get over the first day of excitement!  Eeee!!!