favorite shop friday: beane and company

I loved Axel in his little blessing suit. I was really hard to find a suit I liked for him that didn't look like a mini-tuxedo as if he were a mini-adult or was too baby-ish. I finally found a white linen suit with decorative buttons...sweet and cute but not too baby-ish and just handsome enough!



I loved it on him so much I need to give some credit to the wonderful shop that made it for him!

Jenna at Beane and Company makes special occasion clothes for little boys and girls. She has beautiful designs in lots of sizes and they are hand-made to order.

Winter White Faux Fur Capelet



Boy's Khaki Suit



Organza Flower Girl Dress



And Jenna is opening up an adult-sized store, too, so you don't have to be jealous of all the little guys.

Find Beane and Co. at: http://beaneandco.etsy.com/.

my blessed boy

A month ago on September 27th Axel was blessed by his father. Karl's parents flew out for the occasion and, of course, to meet their newest grand baby. It was a happy meeting!

My brother, sister-in-law and their son, Max, also came. Max and Axel liked each other a lot.

Here they are at Axel's blessing. Silly boys.

And Axel's blessing was beautiful...

I'm so grateful he was born into such a wonderful family that loves him. And it is such an honor to be his mother!

I can't wait to see him grow up...but at the same time I just want to freeze him just the cute little way he is right now!

to be a poet

On Poets.org today there are ideas on how to dress as your favorite poet for Halloween. Now I know what I want to be for Halloween!

Maybe I'll dress Axel up as a little Walt Whitman to my Emily Dickinson. He'd look cute with a beard of butterflies!

doors and windows 9

Burg Thurant, Germany

Bruges, Belgium

Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany

Paris, France

Great Blasket Island, Ireland

butterfly catcher

My sister showed me these butterflies on Ali Edwards blog and then she made one and I made one, too.

And then I made another.

They're easy peasy (just paper, a frame, a decorative hole punch and double-stick foam dots) and quite pretty, I think. They're going to hang in my downstairs bathroom.

You can make one, too. Directions are here. More inspiration and variations are here and here.

this american life

I like public radio. One of my favorite public radio shows is This American Life.

I discovered it when I lived in Michigan and my sister had me listen to the episode My Big Break (because I'm a Beatles fan and she knew I'd find Act One fun) and then listened to it once in a while on the radio and when we lived in Germany I began listening to it online. It became my favorite home companion: I'd listen as I cleaned my apartment and as I quilted and as I traveled on trains.

Now I like to listen as I clean my house and as I quilt and as I nurse Axel.

I like their everyman stories that I can relate to (like babysitting ) and their not so everyman bizarre tales from life (like baby swapping).

Here are some of my favorite episodes:

Fiasco
New Beginnings (Their very first episode and Act One is one of my most favorite stories I've heard on This American Life.)
Americans in Paris (Brings sweet memories of my own trips to Paris to mind...including all those loud-talking American tourists.)

The Super

Backed into a Corner (I love the story of the girl working at the Quiznos.)

If you've never listened I'd encourage you to use this list to give it a try. If you're already a fan, then what are some of your favorites?

favorite shop friday: simple sweet design

There are things growing over at Simple Sweet Design...

moss covered things...



warm tree bark things...



and mobile hanging things...

Lisa at Simple Sweet Designs makes really beautiful things for inside your home taken from the life outside. My favorite are her gorgeous family trees that come with differing number of branches to fit your family size and for which you can order additional leaves so that they can continue to grow as your family grows...

Find more life for your home at http://simplesweetdesings.etsy.com/.

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international quilt festival 5

international quilt festival 4

international quilt festival 3

international quilt festival 2

international quilt festival

Every year one of the world's largest quilt shows happens in my home city. I didn't know this until I began quilting about 5 years ago and not living in Houston any more. Last year Karl and I moved back just one week after the festival closed...bummer!

So this year I finally got to go! It was amazing! And much bigger than I was expecting! There were hundreds of vendors and a couple dozen exhibitions.

There were traditional quilts...

and contempoary quilts...

a quilt the size of a postcard...

and an 80-foot long quilt...

There were Japanese-made quilts, Russian quilts and a forest of German quilts...

Now I feel all inspired by the amazing quilts on display so I'm going to share them with you, too. Every day this week I'll share a quilt that amazed me. Starting with...

favorite shop friday: oh coco

It's been nearly one year since Karl and I moved back to the States from Europe. And I still miss it. Especially when I found this shop last week: Oh Coco.

Coco use to live there, too, and took some beautiful photos during her own European adventures that make me so homesick...



Heimweg Berlin

But even if you haven't been there...man, aren't these just pretty?! Don't you want one to just escape into?!



Welcome Home

Find her shop and your own bit of Europe here: http://ohcoco.etsy.com/.



Shadows of Siena